Banana Cake

My MIL (mother-in-law) is a great cook and baker. But she hardly finds the time to fit cooking and baking into her daily routine these days. So whenever she finds a new recipe from the dailies, she asks me to try it out. This one is from the Phil. Daily Inquirer Lifestyle Section (published on Nov 19,2008). The recipe calls for the following ingredients: 3 cups flour, 1 tsp salt, 2 tsp baking soda, 2 tsp baking powder, 2 cups sugar, 2 cups mashed riped bananas, 4 slightly beaten eggs, 1 1/2 cup vegetable oil and 2 cups raisins lightly dusted with flour. Sift flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and sugar. Mix the bananas with egg and oil. Combine with flour mixture and fold in raisins. Then bake in an oven preheated at 375 degrees F.

Make it your own! I did a little adjustment to the original recipe and substituted half a cup of melted butter to half a cup of vegetable oil. I also skipped the raisins and occasionally baked it with nuts. I also experiment with different kinds of bananas. More often I use the variety which they call manilad-on not only because it is inexpensive but because my MIL says it has this distinct creaminess that makes the banana cake soft and tender. Frankly, I couldn't tell, but I don't dare argue.

Enjoy! I especially enjoy having it with a cup of freshly brewed coffee on a Sunday afternoon after siesta time. Sitting on a recliner flipping channels, perhaps? or just sitting idly savoring the last few hours of freedom before another Monday morning buzz. Picturesque, eh? Dream on! But seriously, it's great for snacks and an ideal pantawid-gutom.