Friday, July 20, 2012

Ponderosa Cake aka U-nbelivable B-anana C-ake


I just finished taking a Library Studies course at UBC.  My class was in Ponderosa Annex which is, in my mind, famous for the super delicious ponderosa cake.  I ate a piece of this cake almost every other day when I was doing my undergrad.  I alternated it with the awesome blueberry streusel cake from Blue Chip.  It just so happens that my Grandfather clipped a copy of the Ponderosa Cake Recipe out of the Vancouver Sun twenty years ago.  Here is the recipe broken down.

Tools

  • Mixer hand or stand
  • three mixing bowls (two if using stand mixer)
  • liquid measure cup
  • dry measuring cups
  • measuring spoons
  • spatula
  • 9 x 11 baking pan
  • parchment paper
  1. Preheat Oven to 350 degrees
  2. measure out all ingredients
  3. Grease baking pan line with parchment, grease parchment (I use cooking spray)
  4. Follow method
Ingredients - Must be at Room Temperature

Part A - Wet Ingredients I
1 cup butter (soft!)
2 cups sugar ( I only use 1 & 1/2 cups)
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups mashed ripe banana (they don't have to be super ripe.  The riper the bananas, the denser the cake)

Part B - Dry Ingredients
3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda

Part C - Wet Ingredients 2
1 cup sour cream (I have substituted yogurt or buttermilk when I didn't have sour cream)

Part D - Streusel
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips ( I use 2 cups!!!)

Method
In a stand mixer fixed with a paddle attachment or in a large bowl with a hand mixer:
  • from A cream together butter and sugar
  • beat in eggs one at a time
  • beat in vanilla
  • beat in banana
In a separate bowl
  • from B mix together dry ingredients
  • Have sour cream in a glass measure
  • In yet another bowl mix together Streusel
  1. Add 1/3 of sour cream  to mix.  Blend for 30 seconds. Scrape
  2. Add 1/2 of dry (B) to banana/butter mixture.  Blend for 30 seconds.  Scrape down sides of bowl/mixer.
  3. Repeat 1 and 2 - Add final third of sour cream last and blend.

Pour half batter into tray.  Use spatula to spread it out.  Sprinkle 1/2 of streusel over batter.  Spoon the rest of the batter into the tray and spread it out.  Sprinkle the rest of the streusel over the cake.

Bake in pre-heated 350 degree over for 55 to 60 minutes.

A wooden skewer will come out clean when the cake is done.  Also when  a cake is cooked, it will pull  away from the sides of the pan as it cools.

Try not to eat all of the cake in one day.

A note there are only three reasons a baking recipe doesn't work
  1. Failure to follow the method.
  2. Leaveners (baking soda/powder or yeast) are dead or expired.
  3. Oven calibration is off.  Temp doesn't match what is on the dial.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ponderosa was the best place to eat at UBC. Their cinnamon buns were legendary!

Anonymous said...

I clipped that same recipe from the paper. This cake became my family's favourite & I still make it and give it to my children as gifts when they come to visit.