This recipe came about because Allysa wanted to make a banana cake using butter instead of the traditional oil as the shortening. The result is a cake with a very different and quite lovely texture, and it’s perfectly complemented by the white chocolate icing. (p. 115)
Thank you Crumm.com for the pic. I don’t know why I didn’t take pictures this morning. This is only the third cake from Magnolia that I’ve baked. I enjoyed the early morning in the quiet kitchen,
but things heated up a bit when at 6:30 am:
1) I was reminded that we had a 7:15 meeting at school,
2) everyone but me was still in bed,
3) the cake hadn’t yet been iced,
4) breakfast wasn’t ready (although a bowl full of Martha Stewart inspired pancake batter was ready to go!), and
5) lunches weren’t made.
Well, off with the monastic calm and on with the firefighter’s rush to have everything in order and out the door in time.
LEARNED: Don’t put a freshly made layer cake in the trunk of a car and expect it to be standing when you get to where you’re going. Ask someone to hold it instead. I failed to do that and it looked like something out of Disney when we got to school.

When I got to school and saw the landslide, I got upset. So, being the economically minded couple that my wife and I are, she reasoned that it was her turn to be calm and rational and mine to do the opposite. Contrary to my normal testosterone laden, cortisol restricted behavior, I listened, and had the cake looking better than ever in a matter of minutes. Thanks, sweetheart.
So who ended up with this cake today?
Today’s cake was made for the delight of the high school teachers who have hallway and dining hall duty this week.
“Just a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down, in the most delightful way.” (Mary Poppins)
There, there now children. I’m afraid I’ve run out of sugar. But I do have a delightful piece of cake.