Banana Cake with Quick Caramel Frosting

Banana Cake with Quick Caramel Frosting

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Hubby can't rate this once since he has an insane fear of bananas, but neighbors gave great reviews! Nice change to banana bread when the bananas start to brown.

INGREDIENTS:

1 pkg. (18.25oz) plain yellow cake mix

1/2 c. packed light brown sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 medium-size ripe bananas, peeled and mashed (about 1 cup)

1 c. water

1/2 c vegetable oil

3 large eggs

1 c. chopped toasted pecans (I'm not really a fan of nuts, so I omitted these)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place a rack in center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350*. Lightly grease and dust two 9" cake pans. (I did one 9x13 pan instead) Set pans aside.

2. Place the cake mix, brown sugar, and cinnamon in large mixing bowl. Add the mashed bananas, water, oil, and eggs. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 min. Stop and scrap sides, increase mixer speed and beat for 2 min more. The batter should look well blended and the bananas should be well pureed.

3. Pour batter into pan/pans. (If using 2, put in oven side by side)

4. Bake the cakes until they are lightly browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 35-40 min. Remove the pans from the oven and place them on wire racks to cool for 10 min. Allow to cool completely.

5. Prepare Quick Caramel Frosting. This only takes 5-10 min; time the frosting preparation so the cake is cool enough to frost, the frosting sets up FAST!

QUICK CARAMEL FROSTING

INGREDIENTS:

1 stick butter

1/2 c. packed light brown sugar

1/2 c. packed dark brown sugar (I only had light, so I used 1 c. light)

1/4 c. whole milk

2 c. confectioners' sugar

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

1. Place the butter and sugars in a medium-size heavy saucepan over medium heat.

2. Stir and cook until the mixture comes to a boil, about 2 minutes. Add the milk, stir, and bring the mixture back to a boil, then remove the pan from the heat. Add the confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Beat with a wooden spoon until frosting is smooth.

3. Use immediately (while frosting still warm) to frost the cake, or frosting will harden. **If it does harden simply place the pan back over low heat and stir until the frosting softens up.**