Bananas Foster Pound Cake

Ingredients

Cake

• 3 sticks butter, softened
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 5 eggs
• 3 over-ripe bananas
• 3 tablespoons Half-and-Half
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Glaze

• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
• 1 tablespoon rum
• 3 tablespoons Creme de Banana

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour* a 10 inch fluted pan or a tube pan.
2. Cream the butter and the sugar together in a large bowl.
3. Add the eggs to the creamed butter and sugar, beating them in with a wire whisk. You are done with your beating when this mixture is smooth and your whisk leaves tracks in the batter.
4. In another bowl, combine the flour baking powder and salt. Mix well.
5. In yet another bowl, mash the bananas with a potato masher (a fork will do if you don't have a potato masher).
6. Add the vanilla extract and the Half-and-Half to the mashed bananas, then mash them in thoroughly.
7. There should now be three bowls in use.
8. To the butter/sugar mixture, add half of the flour mixture. Beat with whisk.
9. To the butter/sugar mixture, add half of the banana mixture. Beat with whisk.
10. To the butter/sugar mixture, add the remaining half of the flour mixture. Blend well with heavy spoon.
11. To the butter/sugar mixture, add the remaining half of the banana mixture. Blend well with heavy spoon. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and blend well until the batter has a smooth, ribbony consistency.
12. Use a ladle to spoon the batter into the prepared pan, evenly distributing the batter in the pan. Use a rubber spatula to smooth the top of the batter to encourage the development of a level cake. Use a paper towel to wipe off any stray drops of batter on the pan.
13. Put the pan in the middle of the oven and bake for 30 minutes. After half an hour, turn the pan 180 degrees F. Bake the cake for another 20 minutes. Insert a bamboo skewer close to the center of the pan and see if it comes out clean. If it does, the cake is done. If not, resume baking, but stay close and continue checking for doneness with a fresh skewer every five minutes. When the skewer comes out clean, remove the cake from the oven.
14. Turn the oven off. Let the cake cool on top of the stove for ten minutes.
15. While the cake is baking, combine all of the glaze ingredients in the heavy saucepan.
16. On the stove's smallest burner, over medium heat, bring the mixture to a boil, stirring frequently. Once the glaze has reached full boil, cook for three minutes (still stirring often) and then turn off the burner.
17. Making this glaze is simple, but pay special attention to safety when making it, as it can burn you quite badly. While the heavy saucepan is a precaution, your full attention is most definitely required.
18. After ten minutes, invert the pan over your cake plate, oversized dinner plate, platter, or cookie sheet, and allow the cake to drop out of the pan.
19. Once the glaze has cooled to a mere warm, drizzle the glaze over the top of the pound cake, allowing the glaze to run down the sides of the cake a little.
20. Resist cutting the cake for at least ten minutes.
21. Cover the cake with aluminum foil once it has cooled so that it will not dry out.

Notes

* For best results, use our Pan Release!