June 28: Pearl's Banana Cake

Please accept my apology.  This week the Saturday Cake had to be postponed to a Sunday Cake!  It was not due to a scheduling conflict, it was due to the damn bananas not being ripe enough yesterday.  I bought them on Wednesday and expected, with it being summertime, that they would ripen by Saturday.  The bananas showed no trace of ripening on Thursday, so I put them in a produce bag with an apple.  On Friday, when they showed no improvement, I added a second apple and stashed them in a paper bag.  Yesterday, I separated each them from their main stem because my husband read that to keep bananas from getting ripe, one should keep them on their stem together and wrap the stem tightly with plastic wrap.

Finally!  Last night they smelled like ripe bananas, but still had no brown spots.  This morning, behold:  ripe bananas!

This cake recipe comes from my folder of clippings.  It is from the December 2002 issue of Gourmet in the section of recipes received in letters to the magazine.  To tell the truth, I am not entirely sure that I didn't clip the page for the Italian Pot Roast recipe sent by another reader.  But, at some point in the last 13 years, this clipping found itself filed in the "cake" section of the accordion folder.

Top of the cake

Mama Judy used to make a banana cake when my mom was growing up, but we don't know the recipe.  Mom seems to recall that the bananas in Judy's cake filling were mashed and the cake was frosted with seven-minute frosting.

This cake calls for sliced bananas and whipped cream frosting. Everyone at our house loves banana pudding in the summer (actually year-round), so this creamy banana cake seems like a good one to try.  The cake is plain cake, no bananas, and is somewhat reminiscent of a soft, rich, Nilla Wafer .  It is made in two layers with whipped cream and sliced bananas between the layers, then more whipped cream and bananas on top.

The filling between layers.

We all agree that it's a good cake, just not as interesting or as cohesive as we would like.  The cake, the cream and the banana exist on non-intersecting planes - they are too distinct from each other to make a really fine dessert.  Perhaps after a night in the refrigerator, they will meld.  I would like to research the type of banana cake that Judy made and find a suitable version.

But, I think I WILL try that Italian Pot Roast recipe.

Next Saturday: Yellow Cake with Chocolate Ganache Frosting