This Anna Banana cake is like a fluffier banana bread topped with a decadent peanut butter chocolate fudge frosting. Simple enough for everyday, but also delicious enough for special occasions.
This content contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Today would have been my mother’s 74th birthday, so I made her a birthday cake.
Her name was Anna and she hated being called Anna Banana as a child. Kids would tease her, calling her that name as they did so. Even when I was a child myself I remember her hating the name. So why on earth would I dedicate a cake called Anna Banana to her on her birthday?
Sometime in her late adult years she reclaimed it, owning it as her nickname. It seems like a small thing, but it was important to her. She would talk about it with a big smile, expressive story telling, and laughed with her whole body – much like with any story she would tell.
I hope I never forget the sound of her laugh.
My mom also loved chocolate.
In the past I made her a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting decorated with chocolate sprinkles. She clearly hoarded the chocolate loving genes cause both my brother and I gravitate towards fruity desserts over chocolate. So for her would-be birthday I met her halfway, making a banana cake with chocolate frosting.
Of course it is also Saturday which as you know means #PBchocSat during college football season. While I was prepared to miss a week of #PBchocSat, I ended up adding some peanut butter into the frosting as well. Because it’s delicious and I think she would have liked it.
Especially served on top of the wood slice cake stand my brother made for me years ago.
Today I am also getting my first tattoo – you guessed it, in honor of my mother. It will be her cursive A that she signed on her paintings followed by the year I was born 85 (my brother also plans to get one with his birth year 79). I originally intended to have it on my wrist but realized as much as I would like seeing it there I don’t want everyone else to ask about it all the time. So I am going for my ribs where I can still see it but no one else can. Nothing like going for the most painful spot the first time around. I’m already going to cry today so what’s a little more?
We love you mom and miss you terribly.
Three years ago: Snickerdoodles
Six years ago: No-Bake Pumpkin Spice Cookie Butter Pie
Seven years ago: Roasted Poultry Stock
Eight years ago: Thanksgiving Recipe Roundup (2013)
Nine years ago: Peanut Butter Marshmallows
Eleven years ago: Buckeye Candies
Source: Adapted from Food.com (originally from The CKFM Bonnie Stern Cookbook).
Did you make this recipe? I want to see! Tag @THESPIFFYCOOKIE on Instagram and hashtag it #THESPIFFYCOOKIE
2 comments
Anna would have loved that cake. It was neat how she turned the Anna Banana moniker around and made it into a fun thing.
What a lovely tribute to your mother!