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Tuesday, July 5, 2005
My darling sexy wife S made these for me last week. I suggested that perhaps she wanted to write the post that accompanied the photo. Little did I know she would write an epic. Here’s what she wrote: My mother-in-law’s banana cake However, more recently, my mother-in-law has also become a great source of culinary inspiration. I’ve never actually tasted her cooking. She decided to hang up her apron years ago. But her two sons continue to rave about her char siew noodles, duck porridge, cheese burgers, banana cake and many other specialties. I was surprised (and delighted) to discover that although CH spent his formative years in the US, his comfort foods, the ones his mother constantly fed him, were very similar to the ones I grew up with in Singapore. Call me sentimental, but my mom-in-law has inspired me to master the dishes of our childhoods (CH’s and mine) because I’d like to be able to give our children the same kind of gastronomic memories she has given her sons, ones they’ll cherish always, no matter where we may choose to bring up our family. It was with this intent that I attempted her banana cake recipe. Of course, for CH, my learning his mother’s recipes is also the only way he gets to taste those foods of his boyhood. I’ll have to admit that I’ve put off trying to make this banana cake for years because trying to live up to a treasured memory is often a recipe for disaster. Banana cake is an easy enough thing to bake, but recreating the one your mom-in-law used to make just the way your husband remembers it really is a daunting undertaking, especially if you’ve never actually had the chance to taste the original. It’s like trying to recreate someone else’s experience of falling in love for the first time. It just isn’t something that a person in her right mind would attempt. Nonetheless, last week I decided to give it a go. I had a few ripe ang bak chio (red-fleshed bananas) that my fruit guy had given to me earlier in the week. They were sweet and fragrant without being overly mushy, making them ideal for banana cake. The toughest decision I had to make was to pick out which of my mother-in-law’s three sets of handwritten notes in her Singapore Cookbook I would follow. Accustomed to making small batches for a nuclear family of two (that’s excluding our two greedy golden retrievers), my palms got sweaty as the assembled cake batter started looking like it could feed an army. I fretted over how much batter I ought to fill each muffin cup with. What if they overflowed? The recipe didn’t even state the size of the baking tin required. O, how I missed the painstakingly detailed instructions of Baking Illustrated right then. I could only start breathing a little easier after the little cakes were inserted into the oven and the familiar intermingling aromas of banana, vanilla, butter and sugar filled our home. Then, I felt loved and loving. I felt hopeful. Success felt well within my reach. Yet it bothered me that the recipe called for the cakes to be baked for an hour. As their tops grew darker I worried that they’d get burnt. But I’d decided that for my first attempt at this recipe I’d stick closely to the instructions. Perhaps this was what made her cake different, I thought to myself. So against my better judgment I waited with great impatience for the hour to pass. Just out of the oven, they tasted gloriously moist and deliciously sweet. CH was deliriously delighted with them and tried to sneak as many as he could into his mouth. But conscientious as I always try to be, I offered a few to my mother-in-law in the hope that she would give me some feedback on my rendition of her recipe. Wonderfully honest (yes, I mean that), she tasted them the day after and declared them a little too dry - which they indeed were after they’d cooled. Imagine my embarrassment. I couldn’t even get a simple banana cake right. What kind of mother will I be? Undaunted, I purchased another comb of bananas. I am waiting for them to reach that point of perfect ripeness, when they are at their sweetest, before I make my next batch of banana cakes. Next time around, I know I’ll get the recipe right. I’ve only just noticed as I’m writing this post that among my mom-in-law’s maze of recipe notes, it says “24 cups, bake at 350˚ for 30 minutes”. I had somehow managed to miss that little detail. Boy, do I feel like an utter doofus. My Mother-in-law’s Banana Cake Makes 20 to 24 21⁄4cups (295g) flour        Posted by Chubby Hubby 
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What a lovely story! I know all too well how difficult it can be to match tastes of today with memories of yesterday - not to mention when you never even tasted the original yourself! But I’m sure you’ll get it right next time, if not even surpass the original. Hmm, I am suddenly very hungry for banana cake…
Posted by: melissa | 5 July 2005 @ 8:24 pm
They look oh-so-scrumptious! Just to be a pain, do you make cup and metric measurements? And if you do, what brand of measuring cups would you recommend? Are these American or Australian cups though? I’m sorry for being such a pain
Posted by: R Ong | 5 July 2005 @ 9:26 pm
Dear Melissa, Thank you for the encouragement!
Hi R,
That is the cook’s perpetual dilemma, no? I will get around to giving metric measurements when I make my next batch. I personally prefer to weigh my ingredients. I’m currently using cheap measuring cups from Phoon Huat that claim that 1 cup=236ml. But I really want a set of Cuisipro measuring cups (also 1 cup=236ml) because they’re oval, which makes them much easier to dip into jars. They’re also made of 18/10 polished stainless steel (okay, I’m superficial).
Posted by: S | 5 July 2005 @ 10:37 pm
Thank you! I get really obssessive about measurements. Which partly explains why I think Rose Levy Beranbaum has got to be the domestic goddess
She recommended Oven Basics for liquid measurements and I ran out to get one. She also recommends Foley for dry ingredients but I have yet to see them on our store shelves. The Nigella ones are really handsome though (ok, so I’m superficial like that too).
Posted by: R Ong | 5 July 2005 @ 10:54 pm
Thank goodness my MIL doesn’t cook. Husband’s staple diet before he met me was fish and mustard greens with occasional treats of hawker fishball. Whatever I feed him now is considered a major improvement.
umami
http://umami.typepad.com/
Posted by: Anonymous | 6 July 2005 @ 1:04 am
Hi, I know perfectly well the feeling of wanting to kick yourself for missing an ingredient or an instruction. I am often perfectly pleased with myself until I realize I’ve forgotten to add the baking soda or the yeast or something equally crucial to the recipe. A very nice story, and a wonderful thing to attempt that Im sure your husband appreciates!
Posted by: Michèle | 6 July 2005 @ 3:39 am
Oh these look great, and enhanced by a wonderful story.
You should have your own blog!
Or will Hubby get Blubby? lol
Posted by: Helen (AugustusGloop) | 6 July 2005 @ 7:25 am
Hello everyone,
R: I so want the Nigella cups, too!
Umami: I think your husband is plain lucky that you love food as much as you do. He gets to reap the benefits of eating well with you!
Michele: Yes, I was stunned that adding baking powder directly into the tin, over my sticky date cake batter, and giving it a swirl resulted in a perfectly tasty end result
Augustus: CH has threatened to sulk if I get more comments for this post than he usually does for his.
Posted by: S | 6 July 2005 @ 9:36 am
Actually, Augustus, I’ve told her to start her own blog, and even registered one on Blogger for her, but she’s both too busy finishing her PHD (on the evolution of the celebrity chef) and actually getting paid to write about food to work on it.
Posted by: Chubby Hubby | 6 July 2005 @ 11:42 am
hiya, as a lucky recipient of your banana cake, may i just say how delicious it was? s, we are all waiting for the blog to finally happen
Posted by: J | 6 July 2005 @ 9:37 pm
We are grateful for whatever crumbs S throws our way then…
So how many more comments before we break Chubby Hubby’s previous record?
Posted by: Helen (AugustusGloop) | 7 July 2005 @ 7:33 am
hello! i made this cake today, and it was absolutely delicious. i have to admit, i was a little afraid after mixing the batter that it might come out too dry, so i ended up adding a bit more liquid, but otherwise pure success!
Posted by: Santos | 9 July 2005 @ 7:29 pm
ps–i have those nigella cups. useless as measuring devices, but nonetheless charming….
Posted by: Santos | 9 July 2005 @ 7:30 pm
Hiya Santos
Glad to hear that the recipe worked for you! I know what you mean re: nigella’s measuring cups. I fell in love with them when I first saw them in an Australian food mag. I’ve had the opportunity to buy them thrice in various places around the world, but have always rationalised that they’re pretty impractical. But they ARE oh-so-gorgeous.
Posted by: S | 10 July 2005 @ 12:21 am
Dear R and anyone else who prefers metric measurements,
I’ve added conversions for the cup measurements in the recipe after making my second (thankfully successful) batch. Happy baking!
Posted by: S | 10 July 2005 @ 11:09 pm
Thanks s! Alas my oven is at the doctor’s for tripping the circuit board
Posted by: R Ong | 20 July 2005 @ 9:27 pm
Hi S! Been keenly reading your husband’s blog - well done, the both of you! Its great and really has inspired me to experiment more and go beyond my usual rice-and-2-dishes routine..
Anyway, more pertinently, where did you buy your cupcake cases? Too adorable! Love the idea of moist banana bites ( ooh sounds a bit pervy) rather than your garden-variety pound cake shape. Are the cases imported?
Posted by: Azura | 3 August 2005 @ 6:17 am
Hi Azura
I’m sorry I’ve taken so long to get back to you. I didn’t notice your comment until today. I’m assuming that you’re in Singapore, yah? The cupcake cases are from a baking supply store called Sunlik on Seah Street.
Posted by: S | 25 August 2005 @ 10:57 am
Great blog! Am not a cake-fiend in general but if you’re ever around the Bugis Village area, in the newly-renovated “street-market” opposite Bugis Junction, there’s a little snack stall just beside the very-visible steamed-bun sellers by the bus-stop (yeah, lousy directions I know…) called PanCrisps, that sells these addictive cubes of luscious banana cake. They’re so perfectly balanced between fluffy and moist, and if i didn’t know better I’d swear there was an aroma of malt/horlicks in there, although u don’t really taste that. Plus, it’s not overly-sweet and those in search of a departure from heavy buttery cakes or artificial vanilla-flavoring should find this an extremely pleasant experience. Best part, it’s $1 per cube.
Posted by: Anonymous | 6 April 2006 @ 1:09 pm
Hi Anon,
Thanks for the tip!
Posted by: S | 5 September 2006 @ 4:07 pm
nice blog u have! may i know where u got the cups to contain the cakes?
Posted by: Anonymous | 5 January 2007 @ 10:46 am
Hi Anon,
The cupcake cases were from a baking supply store called Sunlik on Seah Street.
Posted by: S | 5 January 2007 @ 11:04 am
Hi both,
I came across this recipe on my regular browsing through your lovely site and I just had to try it. I did and it was lovely! I would like to have your permission to add this to my blog with credit and link to your site, of course. May I? If I may, I would also like to know which method you prefer: a. should I just have a link directing readers to your site in lieu of ingredients and directions OR b. can I put the ingredients and directions in my blog?
Thanks!
Posted by: venny | 1 April 2007 @ 5:03 pm
Hiya Venny, you can use the recipe on your site so long as you link back to us and credit us. Thanks!
Posted by: Chubby Hubby | 1 April 2007 @ 11:31 pm
hallo!
would you mind sharing the contact for your fruit guy? particularly if he supplies organic fruits?
am wondering where to get the ang bak chio!
Thanks!
Posted by: Adeline | 6 July 2008 @ 10:34 am