TWD: Black and White Banana Loaf

I wanted to title this post “Only My Body is Getting Older”.

I can almost hear you asking “what the devil does that have to do with this week’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe?” (This week's recipe is Black and White Banana Loaf, chosen by Ashlee of "A Year in the Kitchen".)


You see, I was going to write about the fact that I recently rejoined the work force after a 7 year stint as “chief-cook-and-bottle-washer” (i.e. professional mom). And how I finally got to take sweets in to *my* work. And how I got to act all humble and say “aw shucks, it was nuthin” when everyone oohed and aahed about how scrumptious the banana loaf was.


But then I got to thinking about how long I’d been away from work and how long I'd worked before that and I made a startling revelation. Startling, I tell you! I don’t know how this happened...

I started my career 20 YEARS AGO!!!

20. Years. Ago.


If you’re young enough to have never made this type of declaration, let me clue you in… the next thought immediately following is something along the lines of “When did I get OLD?!??!” Years of denial came to a screeching halt. old, Old, OLD… NESS... at my doorstep.

Sigh.


My grandma once said, when she was near the end of her life, that she always felt the same age inside. Now I understand what she was talking about. I think my mind’s age is 30-something. Not 20-something, because much of that decade seemed a time of growth and change (or turmoil and struggle, depending on how you look at it).


OK, OK, enough of the drama queen bit. I’m actually OK with being 40-something. I finally feel comfortable and at ease with myself. I’m not really that upset that I’m not a gorgeous young babe anymore (BWA, HA, HA, slapping hand on table).

Anyway, I don’t even remember what my point was… oh yes… banana loaf.


You can see the pictures I took as I layered the plain and chocolate banana cake batter, above. I didn’t run my knife through the batter afterwards because I wanted to see what it would look like without.

I could see baking batch after batch of this, just to see how the patterns turn out!


Quite a few of my fellow bakers said that their batter was runny and that layering was difficult. My experience was the opposite... I thought the batter was thick. I can only guess that batter consistency depended on the size of bananas used. Maybe?

I followed the directions to a T, even though I kept stopping as I went… “bananas… chocolate… rum?... nut-MEG? LEMON!? Together!?!” But I stuck with it. In the end, I'm not sure I would classify this as banana dessert. To me, the rum was the most prominent flavor, with the nutmeg and chocolate following close behind. I thought it tasted good... kind of a chocolate goes tropical kind of flavor.

Oh, and if you’re wondering what my work mates thought of the banana bread… I forgot to bring it in. (30-something year-old mind, my butt! It’s probably closer to 100! LOL)

So that's that!

Up next week is Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream. Until then, please stop by Tuesdays with Dorie to find out how the other bakers fared with their banana loaf.