B'nana Cake, B'nana Cake, Maker's Mark*

*now with more Beam.



To mark the end of the semester--and the completion of the MA degree that brought us together--I'm making a Banana Bourbon cake for Penny and me.

One of my favorite things about baking, maybe more so than other kinds of kitchen alchemy, is the the fact that my hands get dirty, sticky, sweet. So dirty that before I can rinse them under the faucet I have to lick my fingers. To wit, this recipe, with its mashed bananas, toasted coconut, and finely chopped pecans is a handful.



The bottle of bourbon, at the ready, speeds this along. So too, however, does the messy fun, reveling in the textures and processes that make something so tasty come to be: between your fingers the mashed bananas squish, the coconut crunches, the pecans crumble.



This recipe also demonstrates the other thing that amazes me about baking: very often, in the middle of making it, the batter/dough looks disgusting, absolutely inedible, repellent actually. Then, magically, it all comes together to make a taste explosion on your tongue. This recipe, mid-mixing, looks like vomit, but tastes like heaven.



Cake
1/2 lb butter (two sticks), softened
3 c sugar
2 c bananas (about 4-5), mashed
4 eggs, beaten
2 teas baking soda
4 c all-purpose flour
1 c buttermilk
1 teas vanilla
2+ Tables. Beam

Grease and flour 3-9" cake rounds. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter and sugar. Add 2 cups bananas and continue mixing till smooth. Add beaten eggs and beat slightly. Sift baking soda and flour together. Add to batter, alternating with buttermilk. Add vanilla and Beam. Though Beam in cake (and not in a glass) may seem like a waste, I added some extra to make a Beamier cake. Mix well. Pour into prepared pans. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on racks.

Icing
1/2 c banana (2-3), mashed
1 teas lemon juice
1/4 lb (1 stick) butter
2 lbs powdered sugar (1 big bag)
1 c toasted coconut (to toast: in pan with edges, place in 350 degree oven for 4-5 minutes, stirring to prevent over-browning)
3/4 c finely chopped pecans

Sprinkle mashed banana with lemon juice to prevent browning. In separate bowl, cream butter. Add powdered sugar and bananas. Cream on high till smooth. Add coconut and pecans. When cake has cooled, spread between layers and on top and sides of cake.



Though tasty, this cake has to be the heaviest I've ever made. I should be Swedish, named Magnus, and competing in the Strongest Man competition.

Buttermilk, Birthdays, and Black Velvet

I’m a barmaid at TipTop (432 Franklin), a neighborhood bar in Bed-Stuy. One might think I’d feel out of place. Yet, every Wednesday, I walk in feeling more and more at home. My maternal grandparents, in addition to being farmers, ran my hometown’s (town is a stretch, there were 1000 people) bowling alley. Before they sold it while I was in junior high, it was a magical place. My parents met and fell in love there; as children, we were allowed to run around—through the kitchen and the inner workings of the pin-setting machines—all the places customers couldn’t go. TipTop, replete with twinkling Christmas lights, shiny streamers, and a jukebox that plays soul-funk jams, is similarly otherworldly. TipTop’s owners—Junior and Corene—have become surrogate grandparents. Their customers my uncles: avuncular in the “sit on my lap and let me tickle you” way.

After having made a pumpkin bread for their 50th anniversary, Boss Lady asked what I was making for her birthday. Every party they throw is one of sensory over-indulgence: exuberant music, stiff drinks, and TONS of soul food. I finally decided on a Buttermilk Cookie recipe and a Citrus Pound Cake, both from the January 2008 issue of Gourmet magazine. My dad is a bricklayer/masonry contractor. Sometimes, when I bake I’m reminded of how he talks about building people’s homes and hearths, with his bare hands, as creating a space for family, love, future. Though my labors are comestible, I think of them as nourishing, loving, sweetly imbuing the devourer with tender morsels. So, for these recipes (below) I didn’t even bother with the mixer, choosing to make it all by hand.

Buttermilk Cookies
Cookies:
3 c all-purpose flour
1 teas grated lemon zest
½ teas baking soda
½ teas salt
1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ c granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teas vanilla
2/3 c well-shaken buttermilk

Glaze:
1 ½ c powdered sugar
3 Tbls well-shaken buttermilk
½ teas vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Butter 2 large baking sheets.
*Whisk together flour, zest, baking soda, and salt


*Beat together butter and sugar in large bowl, with electric mixer, until pale and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in vanilla. Mix in flour and buttermilk, alternating additions, ending with flour mixture.

*Drop level Tbls of dough about 1 ½” apart onto baking sheets.
*Bake 1 sheet at a time, until cookies are puffed and edges are golden, 12-15 minutes. Cool cookies on sheets 1 minute, then transfer to racks.

*For the glaze, whisk together all ingredients. Brush on top of warm cookies.

*Let stand until cookies are completely cooled and glaze is set.


Citrus Pound Cake
2 c sifted cake flour (sift before measuring)
1 teas baking powder
½ teas salt
1 c granulated sugar
1 Tbls grated orange zest
1 teas grated lemon zest
2 sticks (1/2 lb) unsalted butter, softened
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teas fresh orange juice
1 teas fresh lemon juice
½ teas vanilla

*Preheat oven to 325. Butter a loaf pan (8 ½” x 4 ½”)
*Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt
*Mix together sugar and zests, with electric mixer set to LOW, until sugar is evenly colored.

*Add butter and beat on HIGH until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

*Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, at MEDIUM, scraping bowl often. Then beat in juices and vanilla. Mix in flour mixture, on LOW, until just combined.
*Spread batter into loaf pan. Rap on counter to eliminate air bubbles.

*Bake until golden brown and a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean, 60-75 minutes. Cool in pan for 30 minutes, then run a knife around the pan’s edge. Remove from pan. Cool completely.
*Suggested garnish is a dusting of powdered sugar. I used the remaining glaze from the Buttermilk Cookie recipe and sprinkled with left-over lemon and orange zest.
Flavor is said to improve if made a day in advance.