Vietnamese Coconut Banana Cake-(Bánh Chuối Nướng)

Banana is such a nutritious, delicious, and favorite fruit all over the world. From a kind of fruit that seems too familiar to us every day, with some interesting variations, we immediately have delicious snacks, such as sweet banana soup, banana smoothies, banana ice cream, fried banana cake, steamed banana cake, and so on. Today, I will share a classic way to finish using leftover stale bread and ripe bananas.  I combine the method for making Bánh Chuối Nướng and bread pudding to create this easy recipe. The red color of the Vietnamese banana cake comes from the Thai banana, which holds the shape better than regular banana that is sold in America grocers.  I use vodka or any kind of hard liquor, which is added while sautéing the bananas that will help to increase the change that results in the red color for this cake.  I do not think the taste is any different because of the color. A baked banana cake has a moderate sweetness, the creamy taste of coconut milk, the aroma of butter, which is neither too hard nor too soft.  It is certain that you will remember the very characteristic taste of baked banana cakes if you try it once.

Ingredients:

7 ripened bananas

1/3 cup melted butter

7 slices of sandwich bread

1/2 cup coconut flakes

1 cup sugar

1 cup coconut milk

1 tbs vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/4 cup of a hard liquor of your choice

Other requirements: 

1 cup dried cranberries 

1 tbs honey

Equipment: a 9 in. diameter round cake pan

1 piece of parchment paper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Peel the bananas and slice them into big chunks.

Dice the bread and set aside.

In a sauté pan, add 2 tbs melted butter, half of the sugar, and all the slices bananas. Stir and cook the sliced bananas for 10 minutes. Add the liquor and continue cooking until the bananas are getting soft but not soggy.

Save 1 tbs of the melted butter for later.

In the meantime, with another bowl combine the rest of the sugar with the batter, bread, coconut milk, eggs, cranberries, and vanilla. Mix well and let it sit for 20 minutes. 

Cut a piece of parchment paper to cover the bottom of the baking cake pan and brush with 1 tbs of butter.

Add half of the cooked bananas with the soaked bread and milk mixture and mix well. Pour the batter onto the prepared cake pan. Arrange the other half of the cooked bananas on top.

Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes.

Combine 1 tbs of butter and honey.

Remove the cake from the oven after 40 minutes and brush with butter and honey.

Put the cake back into the oven and bake for another 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Turn the oven off and let the cake stay in the oven for 30 minutes. This will help to make the cake easier to remove later.

I like to serve the cake warm, but the flavor is better when it cools and served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.