Yesterday evening my mom joined me to make my chocolate banana loaf! Since my mom moved home a couple of weeks ago, we have found it difficult to spend time together since taking her anywhere is like "the blind leading the blind" with us both unable to walk unassisted.
So the baking was hilarious. It was such a comedy of errors:
The electrical outlet for the oven failed, which left us waiting for the timer while nothing happened.
5 minutes into baking, I was licking some of the batter off my hand and realized we forgot to add sugar!! This meant the gentle swirl turned into a manic attempt to mix in sugar at the 13th hour!
Luckily, my mom made one batch (two loaves while I made the other two, so my swirls came out beautifully because I managed to add the missing sugar before spooning the banana and then chocolate batter into the tins.
- This morning while having some for breakfast, I realized we also forgot the vanilla essence!
Well, it all turned out lovely, proving that this recipe is totally fool proof, but it also taught me what happens to the flavour when you leave vanilla essence out! It really makes a huge difference.
Since I have not had a chance to write down the recipe, I used my previous post 💛🍌🐒🍫🍞🤎Claire's Crazy Cakes Bakes And Kitchen Hacks -Chapter 83 - Banana And Chocolate Swirl Loaves💛🍌🐒🍫🍞🤎 as my guide and I realized how valuable an old school, handwritten recipe is! That is, of course, why I started the file in the first place! Sometimes old-school is just the better way to go! We were talking so much that I kept losing my place with the ingredients, scrolling while trying to converse with my mom and the kids.
- Then to top it all off, we dropped one of my loaves onto the floor while removing it from the oven. But the 5 second rule definitely applied here! I was supposed to make a loaf for my wonderful mentor and friend, but realized how bad poor
felt and decided to hold on to the undamaged loaf.
By the time we were done, my back and knees gave out and 'd run out of bananas anyway, so I couldn't make a third batch like wanted to. I did promise my friend and mentor a fresh, out of the oven, loaf and she was out for the evening, so perhaps it was a blessing in disguise! Also my back and knees had absolutely had it and I was totally exhausted.
This also reminded me of why I like to bake when everyone is sleeping. Because even if there is a lack of little helpers, I can put all my concentration into what I am doing without being disturbed.
Well, despite everything that went wrong, we did get to spend some amazing quality time with my mom. The kids REALLY enjoyed having her around and that was the purpose of the evening after all!
