Cardamom Banana Bread with Sour Cream
The best banana bread in Montreal is this recipe for cardamom banana bread recipe made with sour cream adapted from the Joe Beef cookbook. The mashed banana juices are cooked down to make a concentrated banana syrup that adds a ton of banana flavour to baked goods.
Servings: 9 mini loaves
Calories: 310kcal
Ingredients
- 4 ripe banana(s) or frozen and defrosted, peeled
- 125 mL sour cream, 14% fat
- 188 grams bleached all-purpose flour
- 10 mL baking powder
- 5 mL Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
- 7.5 mL ground cardamom
- 2.5 mL ground nutmeg
- 2.5 mL ground cinnamon
- 1.25 mL baking soda
- 115 grams unsalted butter room temperature
- 200 grams light brown sugar
- 2 large egg(s) room temperature
- 5 mL pure vanilla extract
Optional
- 60 mL chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease 10 standard muffin cups or 9 mini loaf pans with the tablespoon melted butter. Set aside for later.
- Place the bananas in a glass bowl and microwave them for 2 to 4 minutes to allow them to heat up and release their liquid. Transfer the bananas/liquid to a fine strainer, and strain the liquid into a small saucepan, gently mashing the bananas a little with a fork. Cook down the liquid over medium heat until it is reduced by half. Add back the bananas and let the mixture cool for later. You will have about 250 mL (1 cup) total of mashed banana+syrup. Let cool.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cardamom, nutmeg, cinnamon, and baking soda. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the rest of the butter and sugar on medium speed for 2 minutes to lighten the mixture. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl as needed, and mixing on low. Add the vanilla and mix again.
- Mix in the banana mixture, then add in the sour cream .
- Stop the mixer and fold in the dry ingredients with a large spatula, by hand. Fold in the chopped walnuts, if using.
- Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups or loaf pans.
- Bake the mixture for about 30 minutes, or until a cake tester poked through the middle of a cake comes out clean.
- Let the cakes cool completely before serving.
Notes
- This recipe calls for Diamond Crystal fine Kosher salt. If using regular table salt, add half the amount or the recipe may be too salty!
- This recipe will also yield one loaf cake, baked in the OXO 8.5x4.5" loaf pan from Amazon. It will take a full 65–75 minutes to bake at 350 ºF and the outside will darken significantly. Make sure to check the inside with a cake tester before removing from the oven because the colour of the outside is deceiving and not a good indication of if it's baked in the middle.
- This recipe actually comes from Olive & Gourmando, a very popular café in Old Montreal and this is their recipe for banana muffins.
- The recipe was published in the book "The Art of Living According to Joe Beef" (which I highly recommend and you can buy it on Amazon)
Nutrition
Calories: 310kcal
