Banana Bread

Apparently, custard does not freeze well.

We had a three-tiered cake at our wedding. The bottom was chocolate, the top was carrot and the middle was vanilla custard cream. With a fairly decent dessert table, not much of the cake was eaten. We took a small chunk of the bottom tier home with us, and Meredith's mom took the carrot cake (which we enjoyed last year) and my mother took the middle layer home.

This year, to celebrate our third anniversary, my mom took the cake out of the deep freeze. The cake looked perfect. No freezer burn or other disfigurements. We ate some partially frozen (the custard was still mostly frozen), and it wasn't bad. We took the rest home to serve during the weekend and at our Labour Day barbecue.

On the Sunday, we served some more cake to our friends after dinner, and it was a disaster. The cake had finished defrosting and the moisture from the custard had soaked the bottom of the cake. Gross. More than half of the cake ended up in the garbage.

Needless to say, on Labour Day morning, Meredith got to work on making some dessert for the barbecue. She decided on her banana bread recipe since everybody loves it.

Banana Bread

2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups (3 bananas), mashed
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup margarine, melted
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

1. Grease two 7 1/2 x 3 1/2 x 2 pans and preheat oven to 350-degrees.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and make a well in the centre of the bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, bananas, sugar and margarine and add to flour mixture.
4. Stir until moist (still lumpy) and fold in chocolate chips.
5. Divide mixture and pour into pans.
6. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when stuck into the centre of the bread.
7. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes, remove from pan, and let cool completely on the wire rack.

Loosely based on Better Homes and Gardens banana bread recipe.

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