This Anna Banana cake is like a fluffier banana bread topped with a decadent peanut butter chocolate fudge frosting. Simple enough for everyday, but also delicious enough for special occasions.
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Today would have been my mother’s 74th birthday, so I made her a birthday cake.
Her name was Anna and she hated being called Anna Banana as a child. Kids would tease her, calling her that name as they did so. Even when I was a child myself I remember her hating the name. So why on earth would I dedicate a cake called Anna Banana to her on her birthday?
Sometime in her late adult years she reclaimed it, owning it as her nickname. It seems like a small thing, but it was important to her. She would talk about it with a big smile, expressive story telling, and laughed with her whole body – much like with any story she would tell.
I hope I never forget the sound of her laugh.
My mom also loved chocolate.
In the past I made her a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting decorated with chocolate sprinkles. She clearly hoarded the chocolate loving genes cause both my brother and I gravitate towards fruity desserts over chocolate. So for her would-be birthday I met her halfway, making a banana cake with chocolate frosting topped with more bananas and chocolate sprinkles. Cinnamon bananas would have been nice on top, too.
Of course it is also Saturday which as you know means #PBchocSat during college football season. While I was prepared to miss a week of #PBchocSat, I ended up adding some peanut butter into the frosting as well. Because it’s delicious and I think she would have liked it.
Especially served on top of the wood slice cake stand my brother made for me years ago.
Today I am also getting my first tattoo – you guessed it, in honor of my mother. It will be her cursive A that she signed on her paintings followed by the year I was born 85 (my brother also plans to get one with his birth year 79). I originally intended to have it on my wrist but realized as much as I would like seeing it there I don’t want everyone else to ask about it all the time. So I am going for my ribs where I can still see it but no one else can. Nothing like going for the most painful spot the first time around. I’m already going to cry today so what’s a little more?
We love you mom and miss you terribly.
Three years ago: Snickerdoodles
Six years ago: No-Bake Pumpkin Spice Cookie Butter Pie
Seven years ago: Roasted Poultry Stock
Eight years ago: Thanksgiving Recipe Roundup (2013)
Nine years ago: Peanut Butter Marshmallows
Eleven years ago: Buckeye Candies
Source: Adapted from Food.com (originally from The CKFM Bonnie Stern Cookbook).
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2 comments
Anna would have loved that cake. It was neat how she turned the Anna Banana moniker around and made it into a fun thing.
What a lovely tribute to your mother!