My buddy Brooks is a cake man, pure and simple. Oh, he likes a pie now and then, but if he wants to put together a celebratory dessert, it’s cake. I’ve always argued with him about the merits of the humble pie. Fruit or pudding in a crust — it’s so simple, but so pure. But he wouldn’t budge. “Cake is the beginning and the end, the alpha and the omega — all that there ever was in the world of desserts.” OK, he never said that, but he might have.
I’ve always been a fan of pies, but over this holiday season, all we made for dessert was cake. For Christmas it was a brown sugar pound cake, and today, my 12 year old daughter and I made an “Elvis Cake.” Yes, it was a banana cake with peanut butter icing. And I must say that of the 9 pieces served after dinner, there wasn’t a crumb remaining. It was a special, but incredibly simple cake.
I got the cake recipe from the wonderful Dorie Greenspan and her book, Baking: From my home to yours. It’s an incredibly adaptable cake. I encourage you to get this cookbook, as it’s one of my all-time favorites. Of course, I don’t have a recipe for the icing. To be completely honest, I initially made the cake with Marshmallow Fluff between the layers, frosted with the peanut butter icing. But the Fluff was too fluid and actually oozed out through the icing. Not a pretty sight. So I took the cake apart, scraped off most (but not all) of the Fluff, and re-frosted it. Mmm, it was mighty good. Not all that pretty, but damn tasty. Would have made The King very proud.
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Most folks know that I’m a lawyer, and because of this blog and my prior involvement with eGullet, many people think that I represent folks in the food industry. Well, I actually do, but that’s a very, very small part of my practice. However, that doesn’t stop me from getting mail about food-related matters. And this morning’s mail brought me a solicitation I’ve never seen before: a brochure for a continuing education course entitled, “Food-Borne Illness Litigation: Advanced Strategies for Managing and Defending Food Contamination Claims.” Lest you think I’m making this up, you can register yourself by visiting the sponsor’s website.
Posted by Varmint 
