Banana Cake Recipe

In honor of my mom's visit to Paris, and as a follow-up to our last post, here's a treat for you. Legend has it my maternal great-grandmother Lena came up with this recipe, which has become a family heirloom of sorts. People are always asking for the recipe, and since I've made it twice so far on this trip, it's multiply postable. Enjoy!

1 cup butter (two sticks, 226g)

1 1/2 cups sugar (~300g)

2 eggs

2 cups flour (240g)

1/4 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup (three or four) mashed bananas (very ripe - I usually only use very brown bananas)

1/4 cup milk (60 mL) + 1 tbs white vinegar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Cream margarine with sugar. Add eggs. Sift together dry ingredients and add to mixture. Add mashed bananas (you can use more than 3 very ripe bananas if you like more flavor, and I do). Add sour milk (milk + vinegar) and vanilla extract. Bake well-blended ingredients in 2 greased and floured 9" cake pans or one 9x13" baking pan at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. If using pure convection, bake at 340 for 27 minutes.

Bittersweet Icing:

2/3 cups cocoa (160 mL)

4 tbls butter or margarine (57g)

1/2 cup sugar (98g)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup milk (80 mL)

Simmer on low, the ingredients are approximate and you can make it as sweet or as bitter as you like.

Yes.

Crack-and-Cheese

Thanks again to Smitten Kitchen for providing another absolutely delicious recipe. A few weeks ago, the same night we debuted this warm-for-winter sausage soup, we discovered a mac-and-cheese recipe that called for two things we just can't resist: cheese and cheese! You might call this a "grown-up" version of mac-and-cheese, but the 9-year-old we had over for dinner seemed to enjoy it just fine.

The key to this recipe, and perhaps the reason why this SK commenter can't get enough, is the rich, creamy roux-based cheese sauce:

A few simple (really!) steps later, and out pops this:

Looks good, huh? It is! And here's our version of the recipe (In addition to changing a few ingredients, we halved everything and converted to metric):

120 g butter, plus more for greasing the pan

half a baguette, left out for a night or two, broken into bite-sized pieces

660 mL whole milk

30 g flour

2 t salt

1 t Beau Monde spice mix courtesy of The Spice & Tea Exchange of Sarasota, Florida

250 g grated Mimolette cheese

115 g grated Gruyère cheese

350 g elbow macaroni

1. Preheat oven to 190°C. Butter a 2-liter casserole dish; set aside. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt 30 g butter. Add the breadcrumbs to the melted butter and toss. Set the breadcrumbs aside.

2. Warm the milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Melt the remaining 90 g butter in a high-sided skillet over medium heat. When the butter bubbles, add the flour. Cook, stirring, 1 minute.
3. While stirring, slowly pour in the hot milk a little at a time to keep mixture smooth. Continue cooking, whisking constantly, until the mixture bubbles and becomes thick, 8 to 12 minutes.
4. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in salt, Beau Monde, 200 g Mimolette, and 90 g Gruyère; set the cheese sauce aside.
5. Cover a large pot of salted water, and bring to a boil. Cook the macaroni until the outside of pasta is cooked and the inside is underdone, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the macaroni to a colander, rinse under cold running water, and drain well. Stir the macaroni into the reserved cheese sauce.
6. Pour the mixture into the prepared dish. Sprinkle the remaining 50 g Mimolette, 25 g Gruyère*, and the breadcrumbs over the top. Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes; serve.

*I gave Louis a hunk of Gruyère and told him to grate it. Therefore, we don't have an exact measurement for this step. I say, the more cheese, the better.

And the perfect accompaniment to the most delicious mac-and-cheese ever? Challah! (Looks strange, tasted great.)