Beer Banana Bundt

Today was my first ever baking contest! Wes invited me to an Oktoberfest themed game night. There was going to be beer, bratwurst, and a Bavarian Banana Bread baking contest (ok, not really Bavarian, but they were trying to go with the theme). At once I was hooked! I can make some mean banana bread, so this was going to be the test! The one caveat I had about entering the contest was that most of my favorite banana bread recipes are fat free. Good for me, but not good for a contest of this proportion. So I had some research to do...

Friday night I went home after work and scoured my cookbooks for a good recipe. I know that most banana breads have nuts, which I personally don't like, but I also know that some glazed pecans can really win my heart. I looked my cookbook of family recipes passed down and now published through my aunt's family...and lo and behold I found a recipe for Granny's Banana Bread...with her favorite...optional pecans. So I called Wes, told him what we needed to bake, and he came over so we could get to work baking and testing.

Wes had another idea for a secret ingredient...BEER! And yes this was thought of BEFORE we actually opened a bottle. :) He thought since it was an Oktoberfest party it might just work. So we made to loaves...one with the milk as the recipe called for, and one with New Belgium Brewing Company's seasonal harvest ale. We also made a sugar glaze for the pecans and roasted them. When the two loaves came out it was amazing! The one with beer actually looked better. It had a beautiful cracked top, while the other was flat as could be. Wes, me, and another friend all tasted them both, and quite frankly, the beer one was better!

With our lessons learned, today we set to work again...this time focused on presentation. The nuts weren't quite sweet enough last time, so we added honey to the glaze...mmm they were good. Here is a picture of our beautiful Beer Banana Bundt straight out of the oven! Look at those glistening pecans!
We were so excited at the party. Ours was definitely the most beautiful banana bread there. Here is a picture of the lineup. Unfortunately ours had already been cut for tasting and looked misshapen. But it was still good! Oh, and I sneaked in a submission of my favorite fat free banana bread recipe to see how it would fair.
After all were eaten...the results were polled. There were prizes for best presentation, best flavor, and worst overall. I'm proud (and disappointed) to announce that we won for best presentation, and my fat free recipe won for worst overall (hmmm can you really call it winning for losing?). It really is good! I promise! Just not after you've had five other delicious fatty breads beforehand. I'm a little bummed we didn't win for best flavor, but we did have a lot of extra zing with cinnamon, nutmeg, and the glazed pecans...and beer of course. Not your traditional banana bread, but delicious none the less. I'll definitely make it again :) Here's one last photo of all the bakers.