Baby, where's the fire extinguisher?

I had some extra bananas lying around, and Mom just gave me Day in the Country, Sharing our History, Heritage, and Fabulous Fare Through the Generations from Chapel of the Cross Episcopal Church of Madison County, MS. And the Banana Boubon Layer Cake recipe seemed way too good to pass up.

The topping is made of basically a bananas foster, only they're cut crosswise instead of lengthwise. And they're served on top of the cake instead of on top of ice cream.

I've never flambeed anything before in my life... On purpose. And the idea of setting a flame to the pan of bananas and 1 cup of Kentucky bourbon seemed rather ridiculous and silly to me. The photo doesn't do it justice: I had to move the pan to the kitchen sink because the flames made their way up to the vent-a-hood (which was not on), about 3-4 feet above the stove.

But the flames finally died down, leaving a lovely syrup to pour over the top. All's well that ends well, but it was definitely an adventurous day in the kitchen.