Yes! We Have No Bananas, No Bananas Today...

...because we used them to make Vietnamese Baked Banana Cake!  As I've mentioned before, I hate to throw out food. so when my bananas get ripe I always end up making banana bread.  This isn't a bad thing by any means since I love banana bread.  However, I found this new recipe over at Almost Bourdain that made me drool instantly and decided to try it, instead of my old standard, the next time.  So I waited, and waited, for my bananas to reach the right stage. Of course, I waited longer than suggested, but one can only sit watching bananas ripen for so long before a shower is needed.

At this point I must mention that I used six standard bananas rather than the twelve finger bananas the recipe requested.  Hey it's six of one, half dozen of the other, right?  I also didn't have the correct sugar, but I learned via the wonder that is the internet, that I could throw standard sugar into my super-duper food processor and make it into the sugar I wanted.  The was extremely simple and took almost no time so don't let it stop you from making this dish if you can't find the sugar the recipe requests. 

I sliced the bananas on the diagonal and placed them in a bowl.  Then once the sugar was blended fine, I sprinkled it on top of my bananas and tossed it around a bit.  Be gentle with the bananas.  They are the innocent victims of your ceaseless hunger here so don't toss them around to much.  Once everything looked good, I covered the bowl and let it sit for 30 minutes.

Thirty minutes is a long time to wait in Peanut Land, unless of course there's music...and what do you know, there was!!!  Now I'm sure I've expressed how diverse my music tastes are so you won't be surprised that I pulled out a mixed bag of sounds including (These will open YouTube videos): James Morrison - Precious Love, Robin Thicke - Everything I Can't Have, and Mozart - Dies Irae.  I guess these three aren't that diverse really, but I hope you enjoy the music anyway.  Remember dancing, while cooking, is best done without shoes and with the music up really loud, unless your baking a souffle.

Okay back to cooking!  While we're waiting for the bananas lets get the rest of our cake started.  Toss your eggs, sweetened condensed milk, and butter into the mixer.  Once they're good and mixed up we'll add our flour and mix well.  The batter just looked so luscious!  I wanted to just dip my fingers in and eat it raw, but no, I can't.  I must be good.....for now.

So I took the cover off my bananas and they were swimming in a pool of liquid.  Apparently they thought they were on holiday, but my stomach said otherwise.  Seriously though, don't worry, this fluid is okay.  The sugar will react with the bananas and cause this to happen, so it's a good thing.  

We're going to fold the bananas into the mixture so you'll want to remove the mixer from the bowl.  Remember we are not here to abuse these poor innocent bananas who have offered themselves up to apease the Rumbling Belly God.  Simply dump the bananas, and liquid, into the mixture, and using a spatula, fold the batter over the bananas.  I think I may have covered mine up a bit more than the blogger I'm following, but my poor bananas looked cold and I couldn't have them shivering.

Whew, we're almost done with the hard stuff.  Pour this gooey mess into your pan.  It is okay at this point to drool as you contemplate the yumminess heading your way.  Pop the pan in the oven and wait for an hour.  I must admit that I turned off the music and watched TV during this break.  This is a great time to sneak in those shows that have been piling up on the DVR.

I think I took mine out a little early, but the toothpick came out clean and our oven is a nightmare.  It's electric and has a short somewhere so that the back half of the oven cooks hotter than the front.  When you put a pan in you either have to turn it half way during baking or just deal with one side being black and crispy.  Anyway, I took it out and look at how wonderful.  Don't you want to just dive in with a fork???  But you can't.  Nope.  Not for another hour!  Yikes!  I guess I should have mentioned this at the beginning, but this cake has to cool on a rack and then it goes into the fridge for an hour.  What kind of sadomasochist came up with this dessert??  You want me to wait when my whole house smells like warm, delicious bananas??  ARGH!!!

Needless to say I waited.  I was a good boy.  I even waited extra for Shorty to get home so he could relish the deliciousness with me.  The cake was good.  Extremely dense, though, so a small piece is more than sufficient.  Shorty compared it to a solid bread pudding.  The flavor is definitely similar and I love bread pudding.  We both enjoyed it, but, frankly, I don't think I'll wait next time.  It was a little odd eating it cold when my taste buds were screaming for warm bananas.  I'm envisioning a future version that's served warm with a nice lemon sauce to really bring out the bread pudding quality.  Yum, yum, yum!