When Andy Botwin was upset after learning that Nancy was pregnant, he made about a dozen of banana breads. 

I myself am not usually one to just eat when there is a surge of emotions (though there are moments of exception, of course). I prefer to cook instead followed by eating.

Being a food blogger, there is always a basic recipe for nearly everything in your head even as you’re walking. The ratio is already there and however you choose to deviate from it is up to you.

When I made this I think there was about a 1/2 cup of salted, because the sister bought the wrong one butter (I just eyeballed and cut the block off with a knife) creamed with about 1/2 cup of brown sugar. Into that I added 2 eggs and about 1 1/2 cup of chopped ripe bananas. I didn’t mash them. Why would you? The paddle attachment is going to do just that for you. And then in goes about 1 1/4 cup of flour and 1 cup of oatmeal. Can you even put oatmeal in?

Whatever, I said in my head, it’s not like I’m going to eat this anyway.

Then in it goes into a cake tin, when it’s supposed to go inside a loaf tin instead.

And baked at 175C for about 45 minutes. And then once the emotions subside, you think to yourself that you might as well make some frosting after going through the effort of making the bread-cake in the first place.

And then after all that’s done, you hesitate and cut a piece, hoping that it’s at least edible. 

But then of course the irony of emotional baking is that the end result is always one of the most damn delicious thing you’ve ever made. And then you feel like kicking yourself in the head for not paying attention to the amounts (or even the things) you threw in.

Lucky for me I was pretty lucid when I made this, so here goes nothing:

BANANA BREAD-CAKE:

[ 1 1/4 to 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour + 1 cup oatmeal + 1 teaspoon baking soda + 1/4 teaspoon salt + 1/2 cup butter + 1/2 to 3/4 cup brown sugar + 2 eggs beaten + 1 1/2 cups overripe bananas ]

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan, or any tin you like,
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 45 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center  comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.
4. Frost with whatever (I made a simple cream cheese frosting) to your heart’s desire.

Enjoy, I guess?