Banana Pound Cake

With chocolate chips, of course. Could there be anything better to have coffee or tea with early on a sunny morning?

2-1/4 c. all purpose flour
1 T baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 c. buttermilk
1/2 c. goat cheese
1-1/2 sticks (6 oz.) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 c. extra fine sugar
2 lg. eggs
2 very ripe bananas, fully mashed
3/4 c. bittersweet chocolate morsels (62% cacao)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x5x3" loaf pan with cooking spray and line the bottom with parchment before spraying again.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together three times and set aside.

In another bowl, mix the buttermilk and goat cheese until well blended.

In the bowl of a standing mixer, cream the butter with the cinnamon using the paddle attachment. Then, one tablespoon at a time, add the sugar very slowly with the motor running on high. The sugar will blow around a bit, so be prepared...This takes about 8 minutes to do, so be patient. After all the sugar has been added, scrape down the sides. The mixture will be very light in color and extremely fluffy.

Now add the eggs, one at a time, and mix well after each addition. Scrape down the sides.

Starting with the flour mixture, add 1/3 and mix just until incorporated. Then add 1/3 of the buttermilk mixture, and so on, mixing each time until just mixed. Remove the bowl from the mixer and using a rubber spatula, fold in the bananas and the chocolate morsels.

Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake on a rack positioned in the center of the oven for about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool on a baking rack for about 15 minutes, then remove from pan to cool completely at room temperature.
Notes: This recipe is adapted from Sherry Yard's Banana Pound Cake in her Secrets of Baking.