I’m not indecisive, I just like everything. Of course, there are some things I prefer to others, and frankly bananas aren’t among them. I don’t often feel inspired to snack on a whole banana, and when I do, it’s usually only if the skin is tinged with green and the fruit inside is still tart. 

If there’s one person whose love for bananas is inspiring enough to make me pick up a bruised banana and think, “I actually might like bananas,” it’s my boyfriend. Colin likes bananas, well, just about however he can get them! I don’t remember exactly why we were inspired to create our own recipe for a banana cake about two years ago, but late one night we decided that we couldn’t live without one. It was midnight on a weeknight by the time we sat down to eat it, and it was just about as delicious and perfect as all food is at midnight. It took us days to finish the entire cake, and despite fears that a dash of late-night craving was the secret ingredient that caused its success, the cake actually seemed to improve with each day it sat on the countertop. We dubbed it Midnight Banana Cake and have been dreaming about it ever since.

Our first cake was a decidedly amateur endeavor, the kind of late-night baking that I was particularly prone to when I was in college. Since I’ve been a college graduate for four whole days, I decided to do something a bit fancier and fan out the banana slices, which, even when they turn brown the next morning, sweetly melt in your mouth like a layer of icing. Of course, unless you’re, oh, I don’t know, a fanatic like myself, you’re probably not interested in thinly slicing four bananas at midnight. You may be more attracted to the simpler, equally tasty but far less beautiful version. You can even watch a silly video Colin made about the birth of banana cake. Or you just may want to try making this cake at another time of day.

I’ve only attempted to recreate Midnight Banana Cake once and I found it disappointing, though Colin, unconditional lover of bananas that he is, told me he adored it. When the famous cake came up in conversation recently, I decided it was high time to give the recipe another go and to restore Midnight Banana Cake’s reputation as the cake that’s perfect at every meal.

You see, Midnight Banana Cake is just a more decadent version of banana bread, and I’m perfectly happy pretending that, like banana bread, a slice of Midnight Banana Cake can be justified as a “healthy snack.” It’s simply a more luxurious, dressed-up version that I can fool myself into not feeling guilty eating with every meal: a warm slice alongside a cup of café au lait for breakfast, a tiny wedge to satisfy a sweet tooth after lunch, and another piece in the evening, maybe even topped with whipped cream! 

Oh, and my version has no nuts. You could easily add some so long as you don’t have a difficult boyfriend whose hard-things-in-soft-things phobia precludes his enjoyment of any cake with bits of nuts inside.

Midnight Banana Cake (adapted from my own recipe)

• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 6 whole bananas
• 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup plain yogurt
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Butter 2 9-inch cake pans. I traced my pans and lined the bottoms with parchment paper; I cannot recommend this enough!

2. Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. 

3. In another bowl, mash 2 bananas with the yogurt and vanilla extract.

4. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar. It’s pretty useful to have an electric mixer at this point. Beat in the eggs one at a time.

5. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and the mashed banana mixture to the large bowl just until all three parts are combined.

6. Evenly divide the batter between the two pans and bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the cakes from the oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes.

7. Slice the remaining four bananas very thinly crosswise. Turn one of the cakes out onto a plate and arrange the banana slices in a thin layer, covering the entire top of the cake. Lay the second cake carefully on top and repeat with remaining banana slices.