Your favourite breakfast flavours in one delicious Banana Bacon Bundt Cake! Banana cake, maple sugar glaze, and candied bacon.
You’re probably thinking to yourself, Banana bacon? Umm, gross. You wouldn’t be alone. That’s the reaction I got from a couple blogger friends when I mentioned my plan for this month’s #BundtBakers theme. June over at How to Philosophize with Cake picked a doozy this month — weird but good flavour combinations. I don’t usually have a hard time coming up with what to make for a particular #BundtBakers theme, but what on earth was I going to do here? I don’t particularly like weird but good combos. Or so I thought.
I tossed around a few ideas with friends — everything from lemon thyme to coffee orange, but none were particularly exciting to me. So, off I went to Google. The first link I clicked on led me to some interesting options. Chocolate and olive? Eww, no thank you. Banana bacon was on that list, and I found it intriguing. Ryan insisted it was the combo I should go with, so I did.
Can you believe this is the first time in my life that I’ve made bacon? True story. Unless, of course, you count the microwave kind, which you really shouldn’t. I couldn’t really give you a reason why. I mean, bacon is like the best thing out there (next to chocolate cake, of course). I guess I just never got around to making it. Naturally, this meant research needed to be done on the “best” way to make bacon.
I opted for doing it in the oven and on a wire rack (I also tried a batch in the oven without a wire rack, but that was a huge mistake). The wire rack not only kept the bacon from shrivelling up, it also allowed it to cook more evenly. My biggest mistake was getting crappy bacon. I went for grocery store-bought — you know, the kind where you can only see a sliver into the package and you think it’s going to be awesome, and then you open it up and it’s almost entirely fat? Yeah, that. Next time I would buy thick cut bacon from my local meat shop — because clearly I am a bacon connoisseur from my from my one time making it and all.
At any rate, the rack-cooked bacon turned out perfectly and my house smelled amazing for hours. Few things smell better than maple candied bacon, let me tell you.
Enough about the bacon, what does it TASTE like?! Well, it tastes pretty damn good. The banana-bread type cake goes really well with the sweetness of the maple glaze and the salty/sweet bacon pieces. I didn’t put any bacon IN the actual cake, but I would next time. I actually ended up sprinkling more bits of bacon on my piece after the fact so I could have more of that flavour.
If you’re looking for something unique and weird but GOOD, this recipe is for you. If you’re not into the whole banana bacon thing, then check out the other delicious options from my #BundtBaker friends after the recipe!
Banana Bacon Bundt Cake
Ingredients
Bundt Cake:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups overripe bananas mashed, approx 4 medium
- 1 cup buttermilk room temperature
Glaze:
- 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 5 Tbsp pure maple syrup
Candied Maple Bacon:
- 4 slices bacon
- 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp light brown sugar packed
- 1 Tbsp pure maple syrup
Instructions
Bundt Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350F and grease a 10-12 cup bundt pan with cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until smooth. Add sugar and beat on med-high until pale and fluffy (2-3mins).
- Reduce speed and add eggs one at a time, fully incorporating after each addition. Add vanilla and mashed bananas. Beat well to combine.
- Alternate adding flour mixture and buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour (3 additions of flour and 2 of buttermilk). Fully incorporating after each addition. Do not overmix.
- Add some batter into your prepared pan and press it into the cracks of the bundt pan with a small spatula. Add remaining batter until pan is no more than 3/4 full. Smooth the top with a spatula and whack the pan against the counter to evenly distribute.
- Bake for 60-70mins or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean.
- Place cake on wire rack to cool for 10mins. Whack the pan on the counter to loosen the cake and turn out onto wire rack to cool completely.
Glaze:
- Whisk powdered sugar and maple syrup until smooth. Thick but pourable. Pour over cooled cake.
Candied Maple Bacon:
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and top with a wire rack.
- Place maple syrup and sugar into a medium bowl and mix until combined. Add bacon slices and mix with your hands until coated.
- Place strips of bacon onto wire rack and bake for 25-30mins or until browned and crisp. Remove from wire rack and place on parchment lined baking sheet to cool. Chop and sprinkle over top of glazed Bundt cake.
Recipes You May Like
#BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving Bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all of our lovely Bundts by following our Pinterest Board.
We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme or ingredient. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about BundtBakers can be found on our homepage.
cindy says
This was the first recipe of yours I’ve made – drawn in by your beautiful photos. 🙂 I’m an experienced baker, and I did wonder @ the recipe, but gave it a go ‘as is’.
The cake bordered on dry, and next time I will add additional sour cream or apple sauce (my go-to fat substitute), and perhaps up it by one banana.
It also bordered on bland – perhaps some cinnamon and nutmeg would have saved the day.
The frosting wasn’t near enough according to my eaters – they would’ve loved about half to double more. I think this was partly due to preference and dryness. I also needed way more than 5 tbsp maple syrup to make it pourable. (I used real maple syrup, which was very thick.)
It was eaten right quick at the event I took it too, largely because there were alot of guys there, the other dessert was cream puffs, & well, bacon.
I’m going to re-do with a few changes because I think it’s a good recipe that could be great with a few tweaks.
Olivia says
Hi Cindy! Thanks for the feedback. It should be quite moist due to the banana in it. Is it possible it was overbaked a bit? Glad you liked the flavour combo though!
Cindy says
Thanks Olivia, for thinking of this – it wasn’t over baked – watched it like a hawk, actually, but it’s a good thought. 🙂
MARY says
LOVE this recipe! I make it often for pot luck suppers. You mention that you would add bacon to the cake itself. I’d like to try that. Have you tried it? Which would you recommend, candied or plain bacon?
Olivia says
Hi Mary! I am so happy you love this one! I would do candied bacon because YUM. I would toss the chopped candied bacon in some flour and fold it in at the end.
Anthea Christensen says
Hi, You just say grease, no need to flour the pan too? Thanks!
Olivia says
I just use a baking spray and that works for me, but to be safe you could flour as well!
Kelster says
Stunning cake! I had candied bacon on top of ice cream once. Si good!
Olivia says
Thanks so much Kelly! 😀
Mondo | I bake he shoots says
um, no I can’t believe this was the first time you made bacon…but what a great reason to make it, right? I love maple and bacon together, but I’ve never thrown banana in the mix. it looks divine, my dear. divine!
Olivia says
Thanks so much Mondo! It was a great combo 😀