Banana Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting. Partial fail.

Last week, Sobey's had their baking bananas on sale for 29 cents a pound, so I stocked up. I saw this recipe on Pinterest (yes, I'm addicted to that website) and thought it looked delicious. I mean, it's bananas. Cake. CREAM CHEESE. Bring it on!

Here's the thing - I am generally one of those obnoxious people who choose a recipe, realize I don't have x, y, or z for it, substitute a, b, and c for said ingredients, and so on, and so forth. This time I was determined to make this exactly the way it should be. Here is the recipe:

http://www.bakeorbreak.com/2011/12/banana-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting/

The only thing I ended up changing was adding more icing sugar to the icing, because it was very runny.

However, I balked a bit at the oven temp - 375 for a cake...? I should have listened to my gut, because the cake ended up overdone on the edges and slightly underdone in the middle. Grrr. So if you decide to try this recipe, drop your oven temp to a maximum of 350 and try that.

HOWEVER! Despite not baking up perfectly, the taste is really, really wonderful. We all really like this cake and I'll be trying it again. And! It's easy-peasy!

Whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder in a small bowl and set aside.



Four tablespoons of butter at room temp is next:


Put the butter and 3/4 cup white sugar in your bowl/mixer and cream them together.

Next you'll need three eggs - two of them whole, and one requires just the white.


Beat them in one at a time, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla as well. You're almost done!

Grab four very ripe bananas:


Mash them up and mix with 1/4 cup of milk. Doesn't that look lovely?


Blend half of the flour into the butter/sugar mixture.


Chuck in all of the bananas:


Blend that, then add the rest of the flour. Blend and you're DONE.

Pour into a greased 8x8 pan and chuck it in the oven. A cooler oven. For at least 40 minutes.


I am not one of those moms who is concerned about cake batter, so here you go, kid:


The icing is easy-peasy, too! All it takes is 1/2 a block of cream cheese at room temp, a splash of vanilla, and a few cups of icing sugar.


Ignore my cracked bowl. It has been well used.

Result? Yummy, yummy banana cake. Even if it's a tad underdone.



I also made lasagna for supper last night. Excuse my bragging, but I make absolutely fantastic lasagna. Needless to say, by the time we were done the lasagna and cake, we were all stuffed to the point of misery. And I had a very happy husband, who adores both lasagna and cake. I'm not normally a cake person, but this appealed to me because it is dense and moist; I don't like fluffy cakes as a rule because they remind me of cake mix cakes, and I vastly prefer homemade.

Anyway, give it a try! It's a lovely cake, easy, tasty, and appeals to everyone. Except my dad, who hates bananas. But I bet he loves my lasagna.

SLACKER!

Well, my goal of trying 50 new recipes in 2012 is - uh - not going well. I'd like to think that, at 38 weeks pregnant and with crippling pelvic pain, I have a good excuse for this. I miss it, though - there is nothing quite like trying something new. I've tried a few things, but usually do not have the gumption to pivot all over the kitchen with my camera, snapping shots.

However.

You must try roasting kale.

This is not new to me; I tried it last year. However, I've been addicted to this stuff since the new year. Addicted! I mean, look at those crispy green leaves! Delicious.

It's so easy. Buy some kale. Tear off the leaves (not the stalks; they're tough). Wash and dry (I use a salad spinner). On a baking sheet, toss kale with oil and whatever you like for seasonings. I usually use a bit of oil and some cooking spray to cut down on the fat, and all I put on mine is salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Stick it in a 350 oven for 10-15 minutes or until they're crispy. SO GOOD. Seriously - the texture of them is this delightful crumbly, crispy wonderfulness.

You can do the same thing with broccoli with equally delicious results. I toss fresh broccoli florets with oil, salt, pepper, and garlic, roast them, and then toss them in a bowl with a splash of lemon juice and some parmesan cheese. Oh, so good. They will go into my meal rotation along with roasted harvest vegetables, which I get addicted to every fall.

I've also been slack on posting my "Let's Do 52" photos, so let's recap:

Week 4 was all about perspective. I took this shot of some wintry berries clinging to a branch, and I took it from right beneath it, looking up to the sky through the rest of the branches.



Week 5 was "self-portrait with a loved one". This was a quick-and-dirty shot; I put my camera on top of my entertainment unit, smoothed my hair down, clicked on the timer, and got into position. Yeah, not a lot of thought, but I liked it anyway.



Week 6 was "linear". Pretty self-explanatory:


Week 7 was "pretty ugly", or finding beauty in unexpected places. I loved this one and the different entries. Luckily for me, we had a gorgeous hoar frost last Thursday that lasted all morning, so I took some photos of dead leaves and bare branches that actually looked totally transformed with that thick layer of spiky frost. I also made the group's "Pick of the Week" for this shot:


Finally, week 8 was "simplicity". Here are some decorations I put up: $1 crepe paper from the dollar store. My kid and I were celebrating one of his stuffed puppy's many birthdays. Amazing how something so simple can make a kid so happy.


I am hoping it won't be long before I am posting photos of another family member!

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a pan of roasted kale waiting for me in the oven.