The Banana Cake I Ended Up Making

After reading dozens of banana bread and cake recipes, I decided to go back to the one I've been making since I was about twelve.  It's in my first book, Mmmmm. But inspired by all the recipes I'd read, I added a few extra ingredients. 

3/4 cup dried California apricots, cut into small pieces
enough rum to cover them.

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 stick butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 very ripe bananas, mashed

3/4 cup sour cream

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Butter a loaf pan.  Put the apricots and rum into a small bowl and heat in microwave 1 minute. Cool while you mix the batter.

Whisk dry ingredients together. 

Cream the butter with the sugars and add the eggs, one at a time.  Add the vanilla and then the bananas.  Add half of the flour mixture and mix just until it becomes part of the batter. Add the sour cream, mix in, and then the rest of the flour mixture. 

Pour into the loaf pan and bake 50 minutes to an hour.  Let cool for 10 minutes before turning out on a rack to cool completely.