I have eaten many-a birthday cake in my tender existence. In fact, I have even baked many of those same cakes. All of these baking experiences have brought me to two main conclusions:
1. Baking sort of sucks.
2. I think that cake is best left frosted just on the top and center. Never a side shall see a modicum of frosting.

This week was my one and only, darling sister’s 32nd birthday. We weren’t doing much to celebrate, no party was in order, but most definitely a birthday cake was called for. Forgetting about my taboo against baking, I decided to make the Banana Layer Cake with Mascarpone Frosting from the March issue of Food and Wine magazine, that had been coyly taunting me as the magazine lay poised on the coffee table. Now the story I am about to tell was immensely frustrating to me, but don’t get me wrong, once finished the cake was delightful, scrumptious in fact. It was just that getting there was a good-for-nothing, stressful affair.

The mixing of the batter went off with relative ease. (Except for my forgetting to purchase more sugar, thus having to pause and go out for more; but that wasn’t the recipe’s fault.) It was the actual, interminable baking process. I set the oven to 325 degrees, which seemed low to me, for a fruit based cake. I followed the instructions, set the timer for 40 minutes (which seemed a relatively brief amount of time), and the cake was clearly not complete at said time. It was finally baked 25 minutes later. Now this irritates me to no end. I can understand the 5-7 minute rule, everyone’s oven is different, but 25 minutes– please. This is a recipe!

Now onto the frosting. It was fluffy, light in texture, but dense and creamy in composition, however it did not make enough to frost the cake per instructions. The recipe called for the cake to be sliced into three layers; this seemed a bit excessive, not to mention redundant to me. I opted to make a double layer cake instead; and it’s a good thing I did. Once frosted, I had just enough icing for my amended, double layer cake, forget about the towering triple. But even with all of these trials and tribulation, the banana cake was stupendous. Moist and dense, not too sweet, the frosting a perfect foil for the richness of the cake. My sister loved it, in fact she had another slice the morning after her birthday for breakfast. Here it is, the banana cake from hell.

On to frosting dilemma, or solution as it may be. Now I love frosting, and of course I love cake. But there are times, at the end of my cake consumption, as I eat from the outside portion of this dessert, when the cake and frosting are too much of a good thing, the frosting is overpowering. There seems to be a trend in the pastry baking world these days, to leave the outside of cakes unfrosted. To this trend I say, “Hooray, you are solving the ratio problem!” Never again will the situation arise where I have too much sugary sweet condiment, suffocating my crumby, delicate cake.