Block It Banana Cake

Block It Banana Cake for
Becoming Bayley by Susan Auten

Block It Banana Cake

Bayley doesn't exactly know where she fits in after her senior year in Star Valley.  An avid soccer player, Bayley in Becoming Bayley, by Susan Auten, alternates between being a tomboy, and wanting to attract a certain boy's attention. This banana cake transforms a simple banana into a confectionary delight, just like Bayley's transformation. This banana cake is my grandmother's recipe, recently transformed by my mother into a multi-layer masterpiece for use in my parent's restaurant. You can make it in your own home.

Cake:

3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 large, ripe bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 unbeaten egg yolks (save the whites)
3 cups cake flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 egg whites, beaten stiff
slivered almonds, optional

Fluffy Icing:

1 package vanilla pudding (not instant)
1/2 cup milk
6 Tablespoons shortening
6 Tablespoons butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla


Spray two round cake pans with cooking spray. Combine butter, sugar, bananas, and vanilla. Cream until fluffy. Add yolks and continue beating until light. Sift the cake flower and baking powder three times. Combine milk, vinegar and baking soda. Add the flour mixture and the liquid mixture to the butter mixture. Mix until well blended. Fold in the egg whites. Bake at 375' for 30-40 minutes.

Allow to cool completely. Remove cakes from pans. Cut each round in half with a large, serrated knife.

Mix pudding and milk and cook in a thick pan or double broiler until thickened. Cool. Add shortening, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Beat until smooth and creamy. Spread on a cool cake. Frost each layer.

*Tip:  To help ease the hardship of removing the cakes from the pans, trim circles of parchment paper to place on the bottom of the pans.  The cakes will slip out like a miracle.