I can’t imagine anyone who’s been reading this blog — and our newspaper — doesn’t know that we reporters/editors/newspaper folk are taking some pretty hard hits. For this reason, I wanted you to know that people I love have been taking care of me! Here is the treat that awaited me after 12 l-o-n-g MONDAY hours….

It’s a banana cake, courtesy of College Cooking, a cookbook filled with simple recipes for folks (like me) who have little time to spare.

Here’s the recipe:

Caramelized Banana Cake

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3 bananas

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9×13-inch pan. Place butter and sugar in a bowl and stir until smooth. Add eggs, stir for 2 minutes. Add vanilla and milk and stir until combined. Add the salt, baking powder and flour and stir until smooth.

Sprinkle brown sugar in bottom of pan. Cut bananas into 1/4-inch thick slices and arrange over brown sugar. Pour batter over bananas and bake 35 to 40 minuts, or until center of cake springs back when lightly pressed. Immediately place cutting board over the cake and invert.

Cool completely and cut into squares. Eat as a breakfast treat, as a snack or as a late-night, all-out binge — with vanilla ice cream on the side.

– Recipe courtesy “College Cooking” by Megan and Jill Carle.