Going Bananas

After two weeks of not baking, I am getting back into the mess. There have been a lot of changes and stress in the last few weeks, with the decision to move neighborhoods and subsequent search, the death of one of my cats, financial worries, and for at least one week, a stifling heat. But I guess I am starting to expect this of life, and I may have that limited view like Jack Burden in All the Kings Men: it's made of "shreds and patches and old cog wheels held together with pieces of rusty barbed wire and spit and bits of string." So the only thing to do is take a break in the midst of it and bake. Oh, and listen to Patsy Cline. 

I woke up this morning on my day off and cuddled with my fluffy pillow of a cat, Georgella. She is an exciting pillow, all nuzzles and purrs with the constant risk of claws and teeth. It was a good way to start the day (really woke me up!).

I tried to pretend it was a Sunday morning. I am nostalgic for Sundays, when most people are off and slowly wake up, maybe cuddle with someone, maybe they're a little turned on, and then go to brunch with friends and have the whole day stretching out before them. Maybe they'll go to the beach, or maybe just stay home and do a crossword puzzle. Either way, it's Sunday, and it belongs to them.

Tomorrow evening I am visiting my friend Ben, who lives out in the suburbs surrounded by flowers and tending his bee hives. He's making a pot roast and I am making a banana cake with browned butter cream frosting for us. The banana cake, if you look up recipes online, looks like a carrot cake. I hope it will turn out "moist and luscious" like the mommy blogs say it is. After I woke up I made my grocery list (which aside from the cake ingredients includes just bread, cat food, and Ramen) and drank a cup of instant coffee, then headed to the laundromat with my fistful of quarters. While my clothes swirled in their sudsy bath, I did my shopping. I have it down now so I do a minimum of waiting around. Shopping takes just enough time for the clothes to wash, then I put them in a dryer and run the groceries home. Once those are put away, I head back out to pick up my dry clothes.

Banana cake, like most (all?) the recipes in my Good Housekeeping cookbook, is simple to make. In one bowl I combined all ingredients except for the bananas. In the other I mashed four bananas.

After mixing all the ingredients, I beat them on high for five minutes, until the mixture was smooth.

And then, with my beautiful bowls from Mitch, poured the batter into two round 8-inch cake tins. The smell of bananas and vanilla is delicious, and the mix is light and fluffy. I have high hopes for this cake!

The frosting I chose was a browned butter cream frosting, the making of which taught me that butter can go from browned to burned rather quickly. My second attempt worked out better, and gave the frosting a nice toasty color. I then cut slivers of banana, dipped them in lemon juice, and put them on top of the cake.

Here is a picture of a banana cake from a site called Wives with Knives (lawrd!):

this murderous housewife uses cream cheese frosting

Here's the equivalent of a selfie of my finished cake (taken from a good angle, as flattering as possible):

decidedly "cute," obviously amateurish 

And here's the truth of my cake:

whoa, buddy, where you off to?

And now for some Banana Trivia!

1) According to The Internet, bananas combat depression as well as help "cure" hangovers (like that's a thing). I wonder if it still applies when they are mixed with sugar and gluten and baked?

2) Bananas is also the name of a Woody Allen movie that I have never heard of. Currently it is not politically correct to admit you still like Woody Allen movies (but I do).

3) 5 companies control 80% of the banana trade, exploiting workers to keep prices low for customers in the US and EU.

Wasn't that fun?