Banana Snack Cake - by Summer

I was cutting it pretty close with this cake since I made it on the last day of this month.  I wanted to make it sooner, but I just didn't have the time.  I almost always have bananas on hand in the freezer that are overripe, but I was actually able to use bananas that I had bought earlier last week.  As Lisa mentioned, the cake is really easy to put together.  Pretty similar to banana bread that I make all the time.  I did use a dark pan to bake the cake and as a result, even though I set my timer for the shorter amount of baking time, with 4 minutes left, I could tell from the smell that it was done.  I checked it and sure enough it was.  I should have baked it in a glass pan or reduced the baking time by 5 minutes.

Like Lisa, I planned on making the caramel frosting for this.  I have made caramel sauce a lot in the past, so I wasn't too worried about it.  But I had major issues with the frosting.  To begin with, I don't think I let it boil long enough.  The directions said 1-2 minutes, but I really think I should have let it go a bit longer.  The frosting is very grainy - like the sugar didn't dissolve.  Then went I went to put it in my stand mixer, I wasn't sure which attachment to use.  I picked the paddle and that was a huge mistake!  I ended up calling Lisa because it basically became the consistency of cookie dough!  I switched to the whisk attachment and added more cream to smooth it out, which worked. 

My husband and I tried the cake after dinner and I can't say that either one of us was particularly impressed.  It was ok.  The frosting was really grainy (as mentioned above) and I think I would actually try making a cream cheese frosting for this cake.  To be honest, I can't really see making this one again.  We love banana bread in our family and I would rather use my bananas for that.  I would like to make the frosting again to see what it tastes like when made correctly.

I took a couple of pictures of the cake last night and this morning as I was typing up this blog post, I realized that they were horrible.  So this morning, using good daylight, I cut another piece of cake to take a better picture.  I, of course, had to eat the piece of cake and I really think it tastes better after sitting over night, which is pretty typical with banana bread.