Guava Banana Cake – Lanche Mineiro
August 21, 2017
I first saw this Guava Banana Cake displayed amongst many snacks at a Café da Tarde (meal of afternoon snacks). Our Brazilian friends hosted this event. Their beautiful table was laid out with assorted dishes. Of course, I asked about the cake. It’s made with hunks of tart goiabada (guava paste) tossed into a fluffy white cake batter. I knew my readers would love it.
Goiabada – Lanche Mineiro – Guava Banana Cake or Lanche Mineiro is a tropical cake from the Minas Gerais Region in Brazil. It has a touch of sweetness, just enough to offset the tart guava fruit. The thick layer of creamy warm banana and the crusty cinnamon sugar, told me this is no ordinary cake.
Lanche Mineiro translates from Portuguese to literally mean snack of the MInas Gerais Region in Brazil. The mountainous terrain protects the fertile lands where guava orchards produce this gnarly fruit. Once the fruit is heavy on the tree, the locals combine the fuchsia flesh with sugar, cook it down to produce a thick conserve, called Goiabada. It is then cooled, cut into bricks, wrapped in cello and shipped to market. Goiabada is what gives Lanche Mineiro its characteristic flavour. In North America, you’ll likely find Guava paste packed in flat metal cans. Not surprisingly, the canned version is much sweeter than its Brazilian counterpart. To my good fortune, my friend offered me a Goiabada Cascao brick that she brought back from Brazil. With it I can recreate a genuine Lanche Mineiro or Guava Banana Cake for you.
This snack mixes and bakes easily and takes no time in the oven. Once the mise en place is complete, you’ll need only 15 minutes. This cake is fruity, flavourful and delightful.
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Ingredients
- 4 72 grams 2.6 ounces large (about 4) egg yolks
- 4 112 grams 4 ounces large (about 4) egg whites
- 7 tablespoons 100 grams 3.5 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup 198 grams 7 ounces white sugar
- 2 cups 255 grams 9 ounces all purpose flour
- ¾ cup 170.25 grams 6 ounces milk - room temperature
- ½ tsp ½ tsp ½ tsp salt
- 2 tsp 2 tsp 2 tsp baking powder
- 1-1 ½ cups 200-240 grams 8-10 ounces chopped guava paste.
- 6-8 bananas 6-8 bananas 6-8 bananas bananas
- 2 tsp 2 tsp 2 tsp cinnamon for topping
- 6 tsp 6 tsp 6 tsp sugar for topping
- sprinkles sprinkles sprinkles fleur de sel or any other flakey (not chunky) sea salt
Instructions
Mise en Place Guava Banana Cake (Lanche Mineiro)
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF for about 20 minutes.
- What is mise en place and how could it benefit you? See The Finer Cookie’s post How to Mise en Place.
- Grease a 12″ x 9″ cake pan. Fit parchment in the bottom. Grease the parchment and flour the pan. Set aside.
- Separate the 4 eggs. Put the egg whites in a ceramic bowl and the egg yolks in another small bowl. To see the best way to separate eggs, see The Finer Cookie’s How To post on How to Separate Egg Whites.
- Measure the softened butter and sugar into a mixing bowl and set aside. Keep the butter and sugar separate from the yolk until you’re ready to mix the batter. Sugar begins coagulating egg yolk at room temperature.
- Measure the milk and set aside.
- Combine the flour, salt and baking powder in a small bowl and set aside.
- Cut the goiabada or Guava Paste into small chunks, about the size of a quarter.
- Combine the cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl and set aside.
- Ready your bananas.
- Whip the egg whites to a fluffy, flexible meringue.
- Whip the egg whites into a firm, but not dry meringue. Set aside. The Finer Cookie explains How to Whip Meringue in the How To section.
Mix the Guava Banana Cake
- Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg yolks and continue beating until the batter is smooth and creamy.
- Add the milk and continue beating until fluid and creamy.
- All at once, add the dry ingredients and beat just until combined.
- Add 1/3 of the meringue to the cake batter and fold gently to lighten the texture of the batter.
- Add another 1/3 and continue folding very gently until mostly incorporated.
- Add the final 1/3 of the meringue and fold very gently just until the meringue disappears. Don’t fold more than necessary. You’ll want the batter to remain light and airy.
- Pour half the cake batter in the pan and smooth it evenly across the pan and into the corners.
- Drop the guava paste in chunks over the cake batter.
- Drop the rest of the cake batter over the guava paste chunks.
- Smooth the cake batter gently over the guava paste chunks.
- Cut all the bananas, on an angle, about 1/2 inch thick. Lay them in an overlapping pattern going one way then the other. Ensure that the banana slices are tightly packed and thick. As they bake, they will soften.
- Sprinkle a thick layer of cinnamon and sugar over all the banana slices.
- Sprinkle lightly with fleur de sel.
Bake at 375ºF for 25-30 minutes
- Bake the guava banana cake in a preheated 375F oven for 25-30 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean, the bananas are soft and the cinnamon and sugar is crispy and brown.
- Let cool at least an hour before cutting.
