It's Just Too Hot . . . .

It's been pretty dang hot and humid around here for a bit and I absolutely refuse to turn the oven on. However, it was my Grandmothers birthday a few weeks ago, and being a pastry cook how could I not make her a cake?? Easy, it's too dang hot. Luckily, I had some cake in the freeze for exact situations like this (you really didn't think I would leave my Grandma cake-less on her birthday did you!!). I had some over-ripe bananas on the counter a few months ago and was really getting tired of banana bread, so I whipped up some banana cake to have as a spare in the freezer. And boy am I glad I did!!


So I defrosted that baby, slathered it in vanilla buttercream and coated the sides with some toasted pecans, and then served it with vanilla ice cream. It was simple, delicious and Grandma was happy (which made me happy). Apparently I made the same cake a few years ago for my sisters baby shower and unfortunetly Grandma didn't snag herself a peice that day, and I have had to hear about it ever since . . .



Banana Cake

2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour - 1 tbsp baking soda - 1/4 tsp salt - 1/2 cup unsalted butter - 1 cup granulated sugar - 3/4 cup dark brown sugar - 2 eggs - 1 tsp vanilla - extract - 4 ripe bananas - 2/3 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix first three ingredients together in a bowl and set aside. Cream butter with sugars until fluffy. Add in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla. Mix in bananas. Alternate flour and buttermilk, begining and ending with the flour. Pour batter either into a tube pan (like I did) or into two greased and floured 8 inch round pans. Bake approximately 45 minutes for tube pan and 30 minutes for rounds. Allow to cool completely before icing. Enjoy!!