TWD - Lots of Ways Banana Cake

It's the middle of winter here, and when I look at the often cold grey sky, peppered with wind and rain, I dream of summer - tall, cool drinks, sunshine and warmth. Alas, it has been forecast to be grey and rainy here for the rest of this week, so all I can do for now is continue to dream and look forward to the summer.

This week's Tuesday with Dorie challenge to some extent reminded me of the summer. Our host, Kimberley of Only Creative Opportunities, chose Dorie's Lots of Ways Banana Cake. Why "Lots of Ways"? Well, because Dorie gives you an open licence to substitute ingredients or leave things out. I played it straight down the line and made the recipe exactly as stated, because all of its summery ingredients sounded irresistible - coconut, coconut milk, bananas and rum. Doesn't that sound like some exotic cocktail that should be served in a martini glass with a paper umbrella and a slice of pineapple adorning the side? I even brushed the finished cake with rum syrup for some extra rum-flavoured goodness.




I ignored all of Dorie's frosting suggestions and instead, frosted the top of the cake with my trusty Stephanie Alexander recipe cream cheese frosting. To really send this cake into the realms of the tropical, I sprinkled chopped macadamia nuts on top.

So far, so good. Unfortunately, I have a confession to make - I don't like strongly banana-flavoured cakes. This cake contained four bananas (and was a blessing for using up the rather past-their-best bananas languishing in my fridge), so it was indeed very strongly banana flavoured. All that coconut and rum could not disguise this fact. However, that's just me - this cake looked beautiful, and I am taking it to work today to see how my colleagues take to it.

Thanks to Kimberley for hosting us this week. To check out all the variations on this cake, check out the TWD blogroll.