J.Panicker

A small disclaimer: I know there’s a lot happening in the world right now. And yet, here I am contemplating cake because what else is there, when everything feels a little like the end of days? Eat cake! Be merry!

When I finally got sick of the fruit flies circling three nearly fermented bananas on the counter last week, I decided to do something with them. I didn’t want to make a simple banana bread. I wanted something complex, art you can eat. Something to linger over, the way you might with a painting or a piece of music. Something memorable.

And this NYT recipe really hit the spot! It spoke to me through the things I like: coffee, cardamom, that nod to my fondness for alliteration. Here’s what I never expected: in the making of this, a core food memory surfaced. When I pulled it out, still steaming, from the loaf tin, a ribbon of batter slipped between tin and parchment, baking into a crisp cake flap along the edges.

And that first taste took me back to my grandmother’s kitchen: the times I would pinch an unniyappam or five, fried banana balls, from the large silver tumbler she stored them in. They were crisp on the outside, giving way to a cakey centre studded with fried coconut pieces, redolent of cardamom. If I mentally stripped away the chocolate bits and coffee glaze, this recipe was unniyappam in cake form. It had all the elements: crisp edges, a banana-rich centre, and that gentle edge of cardamom.

How might I more sincerely “cake” that core food memory? Is that an act of translation as well?

I might have skipped the coffee glaze and chocolate and instead added coconut pieces fried in ghee/butter, along with ground ginger for a touch of spice. Looking forward to mucking about with this recipe!

That said, it is a solid recipe. I really appreciated a visual guide of the whole recipe here.