Banana Caramel Cake

I mentioned this cake in my Thanksgiving 2010 post I wrote just yesterday.

As cakes go, this was pretty simple. Although, there are a lot of components that all should be made in the same day. I made the cake the day before Thanksgiving and kept it in the fridge until two hours before serving and it was a hit. 

The recipe is from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook, page 157. 

It's a really long recipe that I really don't want to type up, so you can find the recipe HERE.

Following the recipe you will also find the recipes for the Mascarpone Frosting and the homemade Caramel sauce. 

The frosting is as simple as turning on your mixer. The caramel takes a little more patience and attention, but it's certainly not brain surgery.

I felt like the recipe made a LOT of caramel sauce. I never like to use only part of an ingredient. After all, if Martha wanted less caramel on the cake, she would have told us to make less caramel sauce, no? So I poured the whole bowlful on top. A bit messy, but it looked like it would taste good.

I always like when my cakes end up looking like the photo in the book, and this one certainly did!

As I mentioned, I don't really like the bananas. But Jim and the rest of the banana lovers at Thanksgiving thoroughly enjoyed it. Highly recommended for your next party!

Thanksgiving 2010

Continuing the 2010 catch-up, today's post is a recap of Thanksgiving.

Only the second time I've ever hosted turkey day, but the first time for Jim's family. I was certainly a lot less stressed about it than I usually am for Christmas - mostly because I felt comfortable with cooking all of the the Thanksgiving "regulars" and wasn't planning on anything new or fancy like I usually plan on for Christmas.

We were having 11 for dinner, and another 7 for dessert, and I was determined to get everyone at one table.

We have a large and oddly laid out kitchen, so were able to bring in our large outdoor table inside, as well as a smaller table on the end to make one super long table. It worked out great! Even had a tablecloth long enough!

The Menu:

Roasted Turkey

Homemade stuffing (inside the bird)

Homemade stuffing with sausage and sage (outside the bird)

Three kinds of mashed potatoes: plain, sweet, and garlic smashed red

Cranberry relish

Green beans

Corn

Corn muffins

Desserts:

Apple Pie

Pumpkin Pie

Maple Cupcakes

Banana Caramel Cake

Cream Puffs

As usual I worked on the floral centerpieces myself also.

Didn't get a shot of the turkey but he was perfect. Crispy skin, and juicy inside.

The mashed potatoes were so easy! I made them all from scratch in the morning - 3 different batches - and then just kept them warm in my fancy crock pot trio.

Plain mashed, mashed sweet potatoes (just butter, salt and pepper), and then garlic smashed red potatoes.

Whipped up a quick batch of corn muffins in the morning - they were a hit!

I never liked corn muffins until I made these from Martha this year. Recipe found HERE.

Too busy eating to take photos of the rest of dinner...

Desserts were yummy as usual.

Apple Pie made by my mother-in-law the day before. Classic recipe from Martha's Baking Handbook.

Pumpkin Pie also from Martha's baking handbook. I tried to get fancy with a twisted rope crust, but it was entirely too big and fell into the shell a bit when I was blind baking it. This meant a little less room for pumpkin filling, but apparently it still tasted good.

My fancy and new dessert for the occasion was a banana caramel cake. I didn't try it because I really don't like bananas, but everyone else seemed to enjoy it.

I think I'll post about this recipe tomorrow...

Then I also made maple cupcakes. Mostly for my pregnant sister-in-law who had a few the last time I made them and fell in love. They really are delicious.

Our aunt brought cream puffs that were equally delicious. You can't have just one!

Our first Thanksgiving hosted as Mr. and Mrs. was a success! We even saw a little snow fall that afternoon...