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Espresso Banana Cake

Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Yields Serves 12 to 14
Espresso Banana Cake
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Most people approach coffee or tea and an accompanying treat in one of a few ways. Either you are (a) the dainty sip-and-nibble sort, (b) the expedient bite-and-gulp variety or (c) an eat-first, wash-it-all-down-later type.

Where we converge is in agreeing that the ritual of the coffee break or tea time makes the mundane marvelous.

Always a welcome pause, the coffee or tea break is a poor man’s or woman’s urban jungle Club Med, a virtual oasis unlike anything else in our jam-packed lives.

Best of all, it is a ritual that calls for the best in homey little treats. Miniature cheesecakes, delicate scones, buttery rugelach, lavishly swirled marble cake are just some delights that are perfect for a coffee hour recipe collection.

All are easy; none is cloyingly sweet or heavily frosted. These are wonderful just warm from the oven or even a day or two later. This is the type of baking that is solidly rooted in the home kitchen.

So bake a batch of something and brew a pot, then sit back and anticipate that small endorphin rush. Second cup is on the house.

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Cake

1

Cream butter and shortening with sugar on medium speed until fluffy. Add eggs, then vanilla, Kahlua and mashed bananas, scraping down often to blend batter evenly. (If mixture is very curdled in appearance, stir in 1 cup of flour from recipe).

2

Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, and fold into batter. Fold in walnuts. Spoon into generously greased 13-by-9-inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 45 to 55 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before removing from pan. Drizzle with Espresso Cream Cheese Drip Glaze or garnish with powdered sugar.

Espresso cream cheese drip glaze

1

Cream cream cheese with butter. Stir in instant espresso and powdered sugar, and blend well to make soft glaze. Thin with water, if necessary, to achieve a just-pourable glaze. Drizzle or spread onto cooled cake. Garnish with chopped walnuts.