Banana Nut Roll

Over MLK weekend I decided to be super ambitious. I got out my Better Homes and Garden Cookbook (you know the one...it has the red and white plaid cover) and started flippng through it. I came across this picture...remembered I had an overripe banana...saw there was cream cheese icing and filling (yum) and made the decision to try out this fancy dessert for Josh and me.

The recipe was pretty complicated (in my opinion), and I knew I'd be trying a lot of new techniques and using some fun tools in the kitchen, so I was kinda nervous. Also, I realized I did not have the exact sized pan that the recipe called for. I had a pan that was smaller and a pan that was bigger...but not the one I needed...so I decided to go with the smaller one and my plan was to just not use all the batter. I was hoping all would still be ok...I knew I was taking a risk...but I went ahead anyways...

To start with...I had to seperate eggs. I started off using this 'egg seperator' but it was kinda weird and annoying, and so I really just used it to hold the egg after I initial cracked it open. Then, I'd dump the egg in my hand and let the whites fall through my fingers. I had to do this and then let them set for 30 minutes at room temperature.

Once the 30 minutes were just about up, I went ahead and greased and lined the baking sheet with waxed paper. I also made the cream cheese filling and spread (almost all of) it in the baking sheet. I premeasured the rest of my ingredients that I could (including mashing the banana) and got out the rest of the measurement cups I would need. I also combined the dry ingredients.

I got to use my Magic Bullet...but it didn't work as well as I thought it would. The recipe called for finely chopped walnuts to fold into the batter. I had walnuts, but they were coarsly chopped, so I had the grand idea of using my Magic Bullet to obtain the fine chop. However...first mistake...I definitely blended them TOO long, and it turned into kinda a paste. :-( Oh well. I guess next time I won't be lazy and I'll get out the cutting board and knife...leason learned.

So, then it was time to mix the egg yokes until "they turn a lemon yellow color and stream continuously from the beaters." Then I folded in the walnut (paste.)

Next, I had to beat the egg whites. I was really excited to do this for some reason...probably because I've seen it done so many times on FoodNetwork. So, I began. At one point near the beginning, they looked kinda "bubbly." And I had a horrible thought that some soap residue got into the whites while I was separating them (as I had just washed my hands). But, I just kept mixing, and eventually, they looked like what I'd seen on TV. Whew! After mixing in some powdered sugar, I waited for the stiff peaks to form.

Then, I had to first fold in the egg yoke mixture into the whites. Then, I had to fold in the dry ingredients. Finally, the cake batter was done! That was a lot of work...and my arm shoulder kind of hurt from holding that dang mixer for so long. I poured the batter onto the cream cheese...reserving some of it since my pan was smaller...and popped it into the oven.

THEN (See...isn't this complicated???)...while that was baking, I had to lay out a towel and sprinkle it with sifted powder sugar. Yay! I got to use my sifter for the first time! That was fun. I hope to be sifting more in my future, too. Ha! Ok, once the cake was done baking, I had to immediately flip it onto the towel and get ready to roll it. I was so proud of myself that I hadn't burned it!

The rolling was going just fine....better than I expected, AND THEN...I noticed something...something bad. The middle of the cake still had raw batter!!! So, instead of burning the cake...I didn't bake it long enough!!! The cake wasn't done! :*-( All my hard work, all my time in the kitchen, all for NOTHING...and it's not like I could just pop it back into the oven at this point.

So then...I'll be honest... I started crying. Josh hugged me. Then, I stopped crying because then I was just ticked off. I still hadn't even made the cream cheese icing yet...but had room temperature cream cheese sitting out. Josh...luckily...noticed that perhaps the middle wasn't done...BUT, it looked like the ends were done. So...there was a bit of hope for me. I'm glad Josh noticed that, because before he said that, was about 1.5 seconds from throwing the dumb cake roll in the trash.

Meanwhile, I had decided to use some of the extra batter to make some banana cake muffins. At this point, they were already in the oven...so I was just crossing my fingers that these would bake through. I left them in long enough! Yay, they baked through!

I decided to make the icing anyways since the muffins were a success, and I figured we could at least have a slice off of each end of the roll. So, the icing was made, the cupcakes were iced, and the ends were eaten right away with the icing drizzled over them. In the end, it was pretty tasty. Would I make this again? Well, if you asked me last week...I would have said no...but I'm not a quitter...so, yes, I do think I'd try it again...but not anytime soon...

Stay tuned for another guest post later this week!