Originally Posted: 03 Aug 2009 09:24 PM PDT
Is there any doubt that the avocado is one of the most versatile fruits? It’s used in sandwiches and burgers, salsas, pureed for soups and sauces. It pairs well with all types of seafood, chicken, pork, it works well hot or cold, and yes, it has a sweet side too. Due to the generally mild and subtle flavors of the avocado, there really isn’t anything you can’t do with it, including making Avocado Cake.
To be honest, this started out as a recipe for Avocado Bread, but the heavier fat content produced a product that was much cakier (Ok, yeah, so that isn’t really a word, but you know what I mean) and moist and heavy that I have ‘re-branded’ it as a cake.
Cleaning out the fridge I came across several bananas in the back that had been forgotten about, apparently. They were blackening and were perfect for banana bread, and right next to them were a few ripe avocadoes. Hmm, I thought banana bread sounded like a good idea, now what to do with the avocadoes. Very ripe bananas are similar in texture to avocados, so why not used the avocadoes instead. I took my mom’s old banana bread recipe out, replaced the four bananas with avocados, added an extra egg to compensate for the heavier avocadoes, dropped the vanilla and went for it.
Here is the recipe:
• 4 ripe avocadoes at room temperature
• 2/3 cup melted butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp. Baking powder
• 3 cups flour
• Pinch of salt
Method:
1. Preheat your over to 350 degrees F.
2. Mash the avocadoes with a spoon or a paddle in your mixer
3. Fold in the melted butter
4. Add the sugar and egg and mix just until fully incorporated
5. Add the baking soda and salt, again, mix just until fully incorporated
6. Add the flour in two stages. First one half, then the other
7. Pour the mixture into a buttered 10 inch Springform pan
8. Bake for an hour or until a toothpick comes out dry.
9. Cool on a rack
Avocado Cake with Strawberry-Vanilla Jam
While this recipe works great, the next time I make it I’ll leave out half a cup of the sugar and incorporate another flavor, perhaps cilantro or pecans, not sure but something. This cake is good, but to eat it by itself is almost too simple. Like I said, avocadoes are very subtle in flavor and this needs something served with it. I had some Strawberry-Vanilla jam I made last month lying around so I went with that.
If you try it, I would love to hear how yours came out and if you adjusted it in any way.
This seems like a very interesting recipe, stoked on the photography, looking forward to trying this and will let you know how it goes.
Chris – We usually make cake/sweet breads with only one cup of sugar. If you’re used to sweet cakes (2 cups sugar) then you might initially think that one is not enough. You get used to it really fast and since it’s more healthy you can eat more. BTW – How is the new menu you created working out at the Italian restaurant? Your blog and website are looking good.