Cake mysteries..

Banana Chocolate and Pecan Cake


What is it with me and cake these days? I go years without making one, and suddenly here I am talking about my second cake in less than 3 weeks. I made this on Canada Day not for any particular reason except that I felt like baking. I had all the ingredients at hand and G was this close to throwing out the blackened bananas that had been sitting on the counter. Forever.

But circumstances conspired against this poor little cake and the following day it still sat there, fully intact. Not a crumb had touched either of our lips.
By day 2, there was no choice but to give half of it away and put the rest of it (minus a slice) in the freezer.
Sad, I know. That is no way to treat such a sweet and snuggly looking cake.

I have to say, I liked it just fine, but in my life I've come to the conclusion that "liking something just fine" is not really what I'm aiming for.

I told a good friend how the cake turned out and I think I used the word "meh". I liked the idea of putting a chocolatey, nutty layer in the middle of the batter, and I will use that technique again, but the recipe itself was not quite up to snuff.

Then things got crazy (relatively speaking) when I received a phone call that the cake, the other half that I had given away, was getting rave reviews.

What's a girl to make of that? Logically, I get it--it has all the right ingredients, and there's chocolate not only on top of it but, hold onto your hats, even in the middle of it.
And it looks really good right? I mean, I do like the way it looks all bumpy and lumpy and crumbly. It's like a banana bread/ coffee cake hybrid or something and if that doesn't sound like a winning combination then I don't know what does.


I could snuggle up with it..

So I'm just going to have to leave this one with you guys. Sometimes you make something that you think is just ok only to find out that someone else thinks it's fab. And when you're unlucky, which we all know does happen, you make something you think is to die for only to discover you're the only one who thinks so.
And that latter scenario really sucks.
I'm glad it worked out in my favour this time.


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The recipe for Banana Chocolate Walnut Cake comes from Gourmet magazine, February 2008, and is posted on Epicurious.

I followed the recipe exactly except that I substituted pecans for walnuts only because that is what I had in my cupboard.