Bahama Mama Banana Rum Cake

When I saw that Blake and Bridget at Blake Makes were giving away Amano artisan chocolate, I knew I needed to snag some - not for myself, but to share with my mom and Nana, who adore dark chocolate. I was lucky enough to win three bars (thanks, Blake and Bridget!) and they arrived a few days before Mother's Day. I already decided that for our Mother's Day dessert I was going to make the Bahama Mama Banana Rum Cake from Jill O'Connor's Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey cookbook and realized that some delicious dark chocolate would be a wonderful addition to the cake. So I put aside two bars, one for Nana and one for my mom, and chopped up the third to add to my cake.

This cake was delicious! It was dense and moist with a rich banana flavor and the sweet, rum-infused glaze is the perfect compliment to the crunchy pecans on top. And the dark chocolate was the perfect addition. The only problem I had was getting the cake out of the pan. When I inverted it onto my serving platter only half the cake came out. I ended up shaking the other half out and sort of smooshing it back together with the first. A bit of the topping ended up lost so it wasn't a pretty cake, but I served it anyway. After all, moms and grandmothers love you even when you make mistakes, and both my mom and Nana adored the cake - and their Amano chocolate.

Happy Mother's Day!

Bahama Mama Banana Rum Cake

For the Dark Rum Glaze:
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
¼ cup water
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup dark rum

For the Cake:
1 ½ cups chopped pecans, toasted
1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (about 3 medium bananas)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons dark rum
3 cups bleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
¼ cup sour cream

To make the glaze: Combine the butter, water, and sugars in a saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Immediately reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for five minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the rum. Set aside and keep warm.

To make the cake: Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350. Spray a 10-cup tube pan with non-stick spray. Sprinkle the pecans in the bottom of the pan. Set aside.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer set on medium speed, beat together the butter and sugars until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat in the mashed bananas, vanilla and rum. Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt over the batter and fold in using a rubber spatula, just until no streaks of flour remain. Fold in the sour cream. Spoon the batter over the nuts in the pan and spread to the edge of the pan using the back of a rubber spatula.

Bake until a wooden skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out with no more than a few moist crumbs clinging to it, 60 to 80 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 5 minutes. Use a wooden skewer to poke holes all over the cake and pour ¼ cup of the warm glaze over the cake. Let the cake cool 5 more minutes. Place a serving platter over the pan and invert to release the cake onto the platter. Spoon the remaining glaze over the cake, a little at a time, until the glaze is completely absorbed into the cake.

Let the cake cool completely before cutting into wedges and serving. This cake will last two to three days if covered well.