Ms Chef in Seattle

Last week one of my nieces put up a wee Facebook post about Wednesday cake. It set off my make-cake-bells and I went to the crisper to retrieve some bananas that I’d put there to ripen slowly for some baking purpose. Sadly, overripe, so the banana-nut cake that I had in mind? Nope. Substitute cake? Nope. Instead, off to the store the next morning for bananas to be ready for … Sunday cake. Why not?

I’m more than fond of the family recipe for banana-nut cake with a special frosting with an origin dating to war time rationing. It’s one of the few times that I break my rule not to use shortening, having tried substituting butter and discovering that it takes entirely too much confectioner’s sugar to obtain proper consistency. Thus today I’ve reverted to my grandmother’s recipe in order to get the desired result, nevermind the shortening and flour in a frosting.

The last time I made this cake was for a special Mother’s Day picnic several years ago at Mukilteo beach while my daughter was living in Australia or New Zealand and some lovely neighbors added me to their party. Instead of going with what I knew was superb, I tried something new. Since banana-date smoothies appeal, I made a date filling for the cake. That in itself would’ve been lovely, but I over-sweetened the whole thing by preparing a cooked penuche icing. It was pretty, but way too sweet for my taste and put me off what was always my own first choice for my birthday cakes when I was growing up. Today it’s for someone else.

While this cake and icing are meant to include walnuts, today the nuts were left out because the intended recipient has just gone through major abdominal surgery and has a restricted diet momentarily. The walnut lovers among us are suffering for him, but not too much. After all, it is definitely Sunday cake. Add Formula 1  or some Sunday football and it’s snack cake.

And here’s some sidewalk flowers and shrubs to go with it. Purple up. No filters.