The best damn banana bread you'll ever taste

So is it banana bread or banana cake? It's a little trickier than the cake or death question.

It's most definitely not like any bread I've ever tried. But it's not quite cake either.

The important thing is that it tastes so damn good. The bad thing is that it's completely moorish and you will inhale it within an hour a day if you're not careful.

This has been adapted from about four others that I tried and didn't like - after some experimenting I've come up with this gorgeous recipe with just the right amount of spice (not too much) and a perfect amount of sweetness!

The Best Damn Banana Bread Ever

Ingredients

• 125g margarine
• 1 1/2 cups caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 over ripe bananas (When the choice is between bin and cake, cake always wins!)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups plain flour
• 1 tsp bi carb
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/16 tsp allspice
• 1/2 cup milk

My 20 year old mixer still going strong

Method

• Cream margarine and sugar
• Add in eggs, vanilla and the mushed up bananas
• Sift in all the dry ingredients
• Stir gently, gradually adding the milk until all combined - if you spill the milk, make sure to make a lame joke to your partner about not crying
• Bake at 180C for 55-60 minutes (do the skewer trick to make sure)

The result is a super moist, dense cake. Or bread. Whatever.

We Argghhhh Exhausted

It's over. The fiasco that was a one year old's birthday party is over and done with and I'm happy to report it went off without a hitch.

Party #1 consisted of 13 adults and 12 children ranging in age from five months to three years (most were almost one) and held in my parents' back yard because a) it's a bit more child-friendly, b) it's actually got plants and not weeds, and c) there wasn't a massive dog that weighed three times as much as the children.

It was pirate themed and the whole yard was decked out in bunting, pirate flags and streamers, and it was great to see most of our guests getting in to the spirit of things with stripey clothes, eye patches and bandanas... plus lots of arrgghhhhh-ing.

The kid and the cake - both awesome

My Mum was suitably attired in a waistcoat and fake beads while my Dad rocked the Commodore look in Map Guy's jacket (that I sewed fringing a shit heap of buttons to a few years ago - Martha Stewart eat your heart out)!

I was so so so proud of the cake I made - well the three cakes I made. I'd never worked with fondant before so made a trial cake about a week ago and then two more for the two parties (once again, Martha Stewart eat your heart out*). I've never eaten so much sugar in my life!

Party #2 was at our house because it was after dark and the weeds don't show up as much then. It was a grown up affair (read BYO) and most of it took place after the guest of honour had gone to bed... it was the party for us to celebrate surviving the first year and of course, it had to be pirate dress up too - partly because this family dresses up at every opportunity and partly because I wanted a little more value for money from my $2 headscarf.

Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me!

I'm so glad these things only happen once a year. I'm so freakin exhausted from all the cooking and baking and cake decorating. Add to that an extremely over tired and cranky-pants birthday boy who, for the entire weekend, has refused to go to sleep unless he's being snuggled, and it's a recipe for a mood-swingin' Mama.

But a little bit of perspective always helps, so after the last of our guests had left in the wee hours of Sunday morning, I de-pirated and laid in bed reflecting on our massive year; I read his birth story, all the Letters to Tricky and every single post about his surgeries, then watched his montage for the 100th time with a tear in my eye.

I realized that a weekend of cleaning and cooking then cleaning again is a piece of cake compared to what we've been through over the last year as new parents. Our boy is growing up big and strong and I'm proud that I'm becoming the Mama I hoped I would be.

*Am I the only one who thinks that's the weirdest saying in the world? It's a tad cannibalistic for my liking

___ . . . ___ . . . ___

Special thanks to everyone who came to the parties, for their lovely cards, the fabulous gifts and especially for dressing up! Also major thank yous to those who sent birthday wishes (and birthing day wishes) to us via Twitter and the Where's My Glow? Facebook page - you made the day extra special!