Patty Cake, Patty Cake, Baker's Man

They say there are 2 kinds of people: Bakers and Cooks. Bakers are meticulous perfectionists who weigh and level their ingredients. They need formulas and recipes to follow. Cooks, on the otherhand, feel their way through their masterpieces. They use their senses and impulses and occasionally use recipes a a vague map to their destination.

I am a cook. Ironically, though I would call myself a perfectionist, I hate measuring and leveling off ingredients. I'm a "pinch here, sprinkle there" type of person.

All this to say that I'm going to a picnic this Sunday after church. The details are still pretty vague, but I can tell you there will be sangria, cheese(?), croquet and maybe a birthday cake for Priscilla... if I can figure out how to do that.

I want to make a banana cake with salted caramel filling and a ganache frosting. In my head it'll look and taste spectacular - gooey caramel and fragrant bananas, luscious silky layers of chocolate dripping like liquid satin down the edges.

Thing is:

• I've never made a cake that didn't come out or a little red or blue box. My closest attempts were a banana nut bread that was surprisingly deleeshush, and red velvet cupcakes from a recipe from Paula Deen, the Butter Queen. (I think I've JUST come off the sugar rush of that one)
• I don't know the first thing about caramels or ganaches.
• I lack any patience to let things rest or cool, which would explain all the flat, bloblike, runny frosting cakes I used to produce for school bake sales.

I may have to consult my pastry chef friend (and maybe the baker here at the office) to give me a few pointers.