Comments on: David Lebovitz’s Banana Cake…

By: Sheila

Sheila — Thu, 02 May 2013 03:11:30 +0000

Just want to say that I’ve been a longtime fan of your blog. And banana cakes. ;)

By: Shalimar

Shalimar — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 13:48:26 +0000

top with cinnamon cream frosting… and with a hint of nutmeg ! oh lala.

By: AM

AM — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 05:20:13 +0000

Plain greek yogurt like FAGE is a good alternative to sour cream. It will keep the banana cake or bread moist.

By: Tracy

Tracy — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 08:24:02 +0000

Oh yes, back in college bananas would routinely be left unnoticed and get overripe, but when made into banana muffins… gone in a day. We froze our overripe bananas, so that they don’t have to be made into bread immediately. That also made them mushy and ready to be baked once thawed.

By: Meg

Meg — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 21:12:41 +0000

The secret ingredient for this moist DL banana cake is sour cream or yogurt. This is a tested way of making banana cakes moist and soft and not overdry and crumbly. I put crumbled walnut and dark brown sugar on top of my banana cake.

By: Footloose

Footloose — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 16:40:16 +0000

No because that much I was aware of even from the start. Here I was back in 2008 re this very subject. “you can run into a lot of trouble if you did that in a French market where touching the fruit display is a big no no. Yes in the cheese shop, you can press, poke and palpate to your heart’s content” but interfere with their fruit pyramid and you’re chop liver. I’m grateful for my all-asian appearance, however, they seem to hold in reserve their most withering contempt for Americans.

By: Nina

Nina — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 15:55:17 +0000

That was a good one, Footloose. I believe the French are very protective, to say the least of their language, hahaha. Have you experienced being yelled at bec. you were touching a produce? That’s another no-no…yikees! They would not hesitate to correct you… and since I go there often, I just stop taking it personally, C’est la vie. But, I also dealt with the most kind-hearted and generous people I’ve met in Europe esp. when you start your conversation the way they want it… am sure you’ve heard about it/familiar with it? Anyways, DL’s episodes re kitchen remodeling in Paris was funny and traumatic at the same time. How about his episodes with the utility companies and post office? Makes you feel very lucky to live in other places other than France (or Europe?).

By: Pamela

Pamela — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 04:20:17 +0000

this is the banana recipe from David Lebovitz too that i use all the time https://www.davidlebovitz.com/2007/09/banana-bread-or-1/
i get overripe bananas (lacatan) from sm savemore. i believe they repack those that dont get sold. around 5-6 pcs. per pack cost between fifteen to seventeen pesos. instead of chocolate chips, i just chop up some dark chocolate.

By: Susie

Susie — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 02:33:49 +0000

MM, try the ginger cake recipe in the same book. Life changing experience :-)

By: Footloose

Footloose — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 01:38:45 +0000

If intended as a snacking cake as opposed to dessert, I can’t blame you for not going all out into the mocha icing and peanut brittlely topping that the recipe suggests. Just too sweet, in all likelihood geared towards the American palate. Sa picture pa lang e mukang masyadong very rich na.

Looking at other aspects though, I admire DL’s humor (self-deprecating, no doubt) about his tenuous command of French. I was traumatized too in my early attempts traveling in France. There was this ornery pharmacist who almost bit my head off correcting my dropping the final s of cassis. Cassiss m’sieu, cassiss!, he hissed. Yet another reason for traveling while young. Your sensibilities are still resilient and able to shrug off slings and arrows of outrageous natives.