Cooking for Priests

 

I was called back to do a couple of shifts for the priests and I was hunting for the perfect dessert. Some over ripe bananas on the counter were the jumping off point. They prefer food that is homey and simple, so I actually pulled this recipe from a book that I have had for a few years now: Kitchen Sense. A good basic cookbook that would be favourably compared to the Joy of Cooking. Recommended for those classic family pleasing recipes. I loved how the caramel Cream Cheese frosting was not too sweet. And the priests loved it as well. One asked me were I bought it.....
I have paraphrased the recipes as Davis' writing style is extremely detailed.
Here is the amazon link just in case.

Kitchen Sense

Banana Cake
Kitchen Sense, Mitchell Davis

1/2 cup unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing the pan, at room temp
3/4 cup buttermilk ( I used the vinegar/milk sub)
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups ap flour
1tsp baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract ( I also added 1/2 teaspoon maple extract)
3 very large ripe bananas (about 1 1/4 cups

Preheat your oven to 350F Butter and flour one 9x13 0r 2 9 inch cake pans.
In a small bowl, combine baking soda and buttermilk. In another bowl, mix the remaining dry ingredients.
In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar to form a smooth paste. Add eggs, one at a time, beating as you go. Stir in vanilla or whatever other extract you chose.
Stir in half of the bananas, half of the milk and half the dry ingredients. Mix until incorporated. Repeat. Pour into prepared pans.
Bake for about 30 mins (mine took longer, but I think it was because of the sucky ovens at the priests) until the cake has risen, browned, pulled away from the edges and springs back from the touch. Let cool for 20 minutes, run a knife around the edge of the pan and invert onto rack, allowing to cool completely.

Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes 2.5 cups

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups cream cheese at room temp
6 taplespoons unsalted butter at room temp

In a saucepan, combine sugar with 1/4 cup cold water. Set over medium high heat and stir to dissolve sugar. Bring to a boil and cook until the bubbles get slower, the syrup thickens, and the sugars start to darken. Swirl the pan to ensure that the caramelization is even. Keep swirling until the sugar has reached a dark mahogany colour. Remove from heat and immediately (CAREFULLY) add the heavy cream to stop the cooking. The caramel will bubble and froth, but keep swirling and stirring and it will settle to a rich thick sauce.Stir in salt and allow to cool to room temp (this will take about and hour).
In an electric mixer fitted with a paddle, beat together the cream cheese and butter, scraping down the sides, until smooth and light. Beat in cooled caramel. Icing can be used as is or chilled to stiffen somewhat before putting on the cake.