The Best Banana Cake

Truly The Best Ever Banana Cake

Truly The Best Ever Banana Cake

Every so often, I go trolling through cookbooks and the internet for a good banana cake recipe. Yesterday, my nose led me to a bunch of bananas I thought I had found a good place for in the kitchen, and then promptly forgot about. Time to look for that elusive wet cake recipe involving bananas.
It was my lucky day. A baker named Rhonda posted this recipe I'm sharing with you, with a few adaptations of my own.




                                                         Banana Cake

2 cups mashed ripe bananas, doused with a half lemon

3 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 cup salted butter

2 cups and 2 tablespoons sugar

3 large eggs, brought to room temperature in a small bowl of hot water for 5 minutes

2 teaspoons vanilla                                                                                                                                                                           1 1/2 cups milk, acidulated with apple cider vinegar, or buttermilk

1. Heat oven to 275 ( yes, that low! do it, it works)

     2. Spray a 9 x 12 pan with Pam  

     3. I a medium bowl, whisk the flour and baking soda together

     4. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together till fluffy and add the eggs , one at a time , waiting for each to be fully incorporated, then add the vanilla. Alternate adding the sour milk and the flour mixture, beginning and ending with the flour. Don't overmix.

    5. Stir in banana mixture and turn the batter into the pan. Bake about an hour, or when you touch the middle of the cake lightly with your fingers, it offers a little resistance.

   6. Now Rhonda says at this point to put it directly into the freezer for 45 minutes before frosting to up the moisture factor- I didn't because we were leaving for the dog park, and the result was still incredibly moist.

Now for frosting, you can do 1/2 cup butter, 8 ounces cream cheese, some lemon rind, vanilla, and 3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar. Because I had an additional cup of banana puree, I put it in a pot with 1/2 cup of brown sugar and a tablespoon of corn syrup and cooked it down for about 15 minutes till it smelled like bananas foster. To the cream cheese mixture, I added that with just a bit of confectioners sugar to taste , and beat the hell out of it.
This cake will make you very very happy- and it keeps perfectly in the refrigerater.

Dancing is part of the meal

I just had this vision of Mama dancing before and after dinner. She was, among other things, an accomplished Spanish dancer. She was very sexy and Dad made no bones about displaying his attraction for her. Always in spike heels, she would begin dinner as though it was the overture to a show. Watching her with concentrated intent,was a pass time of mine. She was, after all our mother and she was cool. Spanish Rice was a meal we were served at least twice a month and we all craved it. Laughter, boisterous laughter, seemed as prevalent as the garlic she used to flavor almost everything. Oh she was very spicy, haha! After throwing it all together she would smile and begin heel beats while raising her arms in what seemed like slow motion. The neighbors always complained because between her heel beats and our father choreographing, it was a bit loud but oh so fun for us. Later, as Nana and I grew we joined in with performances of our own. Dinner was the anchor for us and Nana and I grew as performers from those days.

                                      Spanish Rice as discovered in an old book of mine.....

                                  as dictated to me by Mama;
                     
Mama: "with peanut and olive oil cut up onion and lots of garlic, brown lightly."
Zan:     "how much onion?"
Mama:  " you know about one big one or two medium. Add 1 cup of rice and brown a little."
Zan:      " Oh, do you mean in butter?" ( I was young, give me a break)
Mama:  " of course! Separately brown meat then combine tomato paste and 1 large can of tomatoes and
                soup mix. ( she always threw in the flavor pack from Lipton soup to flavor things) and 1 cup
                of water."
Zan:      " mama, how much meat?"
Mama:   " you know, maybe a pound of ground beef." ( I suspect now that it could be any type of
                 ground meat. Buffalo, chicken, turkey or even lamb.)
Mama:   " Oh! I forgot!... add sugar to the onions when you brown them!..Oh my God!!"
Zan:       " Ok, I got it."
Mama:   " Separately brown green and red peppers, mix everything together, cover and cook slow."
Zan:       " thanks Mama. ( I could tell this was slowing her down and the wheels were turning)
Mama:    "I'll make tea and scones now."

               see?, I told you. The wheels were turning.

                                                                                      Kisses, Zan                          

As I write, it is 4 o'clock here in Manhattan on a very lazy Saturday afternoon, and my thoughts have turned to this glass.  Quality over quantity- the best of ingredients in a cocktail put me in the right frame of mind at 5 o'clock. There is the ritual enjoyment of opening  bottles of small batch bitters, or containers of spices and herbs, or reaching in the back of the refrigerator for the jar filled with thyme scented simple syrup Zan brought over to make martinis. Appreciating these little receptacles of other people's passion or care go into the drink as sure as the liquor. Tonight, I feel like one of the saltiest drinks I've ever tasted, and one of my favorite, called an "L.A. River". The bartender at the downtown L.A. restaurant I tasted it in told me the name comes from it being "really dry and really dirty".  If you've seen the L.A. river, you know that's a perfect description.

In a martini shaker, put a half capful of a good quality white vermouth, swish it around, and empty it out. Add ice and vodka and olive juice to your taste. Shake madly. Wet the rim of your glass and dip it into smoked black salt. Pour in your cocktail and vow to cut salt out of dinner tonight.

xxxNana

Thrilled to be back, flattered to be thought of as crazy

                         Gluten Free French Cocoa Almond Donut with Grass Fed Butter

We're Back!!

A Little Lesson in You Never Know

I could never have guessed when I was writing on my now defunct blog the day before my birthday

 that the next time I wrote I would be sitting in New York City.  Or that between here and New

Mexico there would be a year in L.A.! So basically, I have been packing or unpacking for the last

two years. But, aaah New York. Inspiration to live from your soul everywhere. Zan and I will share

with you here what our mother bequeathed to us : to eat and live with intention and greedy joy. What

fun to share this with my crazy sister!

                                                   xxxnana