There are Sundays when the usual breakfast staples—eggs, meat, griddled this and that—just aren’t appealing. Or when you’ve got people coming over who don’t eat meat or object to the scent of cooking eggs, or are otherwise impossible to please. In those circumstances, it’s good to have a backup. That backup should be banana bread. Even the lightest banana breads are heftier and more filling than most other baked goods. Add some icing (our household is fond of a butter icing with a touch of brandy) and serve it with a big bowl of fruit salad or fresh berries, plus a fresh pot of coffee, and you’re set.

It goes without saying that you can’t make banana bread unless you’ve got ripe bananas, so for all my talk of a “backup,” this recipe still requires some forethought. It’s also heavy on the bananas—four, compared to the typical two- or three-banana loaf—and is best made in a Bundt pan. So, if we’re being strict about it, this is technically a cake, but so is any “bread” that you make by creaming sugar and butter. Nuts are optional, but if your visitors aren’t allergic, I recommend mixing some chopped toasted pecans into the batter and then, after you’ve iced the top of the cake (bread!), placing a half-dozen pecan halves on top. The nuts say, “Hey, I made some effort, and pay attention because this isn’t your average banana bread.”