Banana Cake

Thanks to Suzanne at Not Quite Donna Reed, I was inspired to start making my own cakes again and putting my glass cake stand to use. I used a recipe in my 1956 The American Peoples Cookbook for banana cake and banana frosting, but as I tend to do, I altered it.

I put in my food processor:

1 cup whole raw almonds (whirr the processor until the almonds turn into an almond flour)
1 cup arrowroot flour
1/2 cup white whole wheat flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla
2 brown-skinned bananas (removed from their peel, of course)
1/2 cup real maple syrup
tbsp. molasses
2 eggs
1/4 cup plain full-fat yogurt (I didn't have buttermilk on hand)

Blend it all well and I baked it in a cake pan at 350 degrees for I don't recall how long. I tend to ignore the clock and go by smell. I don't know how I do it, but when it smells done to me it usually is.

For the frosting:

Put in food processor:

1 brown-flecked banana
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 cup butter

Now here is where I really fudged it. I only had a little confectioners sugar. I didn't measure it, but I think it was about 1/2 cup. The recipe called for over 3 cups of the stuff. So I added in some plain white sugar, the last of my arrowroot flour, some white whole wheat flour and a little corn starch (and 2 drops yellow food coloring) and that seemed to thicken it up without making it too sickly sweet. Next time I make frosting I'm cutting the confectioner's sugar in half and replacing it with arrowroot flour to see how it comes out!

The frosting was still a bit runny, but quite tasty and usable. Because of this I didn't bother frosting the sides of the cake but just made the top look sort of like a slice of banana.

To be honest, I'm not a very good cake decorator. My brother is amazing! He made a birthday cake that looked just like the Rocket from Little Einsteins! For the antenna on the top he used a cherry blowpop lollipop!

Anyhow, Suzanne, you asked me to post a picture of the cake, and here it is!