BANANA PECAN BUNDT CAKE (with chocolate chips)

Happy hump day, dear reader. I hope your week is going well.

I don't often make bundt cakes. Actually no one in my family really makes bundt cakes. Come to think of it, when I think of bundt cakes from my childhood, I think of those super sweet, super moist grocery-store-bakery "bundt cakes" that are thickly glazed. You know, the ones that look like a bundt cake, but they're really just too light to be a bundt cake? I remember trying to sneak the piece with the most glaze, duh.

Well this is not one of those super sweet, super-glazed cakes. This is a heavy, moist cake with a strong banana flavor and the perfect touch of added sweetness with a powdered sugar dusting. Perfect for morning coffee, afternoon snack, or *cough* midnight snack.

The recipe is so easy and straightforward. For moisture I skipped the sour cream and used nonfat Greek yogurt instead. (I couldn't tell a difference. Yay!) You can adjust the chocolate chips and nuts however you like (1 cup of each is pretty generous). Skip one or the other, or try walnuts or apple chunks instead of pecans. (But, who are we kidding, you can't skip the chocolate chips. Don't do that.)

BANANA PECAN BUNDT CAKE

2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 stick butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 ripe bananas (medium - large)
3/4 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans

In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside. In a medium bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. In a small bowl, mash bananas together with yogurt. Stir banana mixture into butter mixture. Add wet mixture to dry mixture and stir just until combined. Finally, stir in chocolate chips and nuts.

Pour into a greased bundt pan and bake at 350 degrees for 65 - 75 minutes. Check about halfway through to be sure it's not browning too much. If it is, cover loosely with foil.

Remove from oven and cool in pan 15 minutes on a wire rack. Then flip over and remove cake onto wire rack. Allow to cool completely.