Kenton loves banana flavored things. It’s kind of weird and I love him for it. I mean, he gets banana flavored snow cones. I didn’t even know they did that. But he loves them. Once we were traveling with family and we tried this cake at a luncheon. When he bit into it he did his signature signs for indicating his love for the taste. First, he takes a bite. Then pauses long enough for you to think he’s forgotten he just ate something and he’s actually thinking about something else now. But it’s not too long, turns out, his tastebuds are exploding and it takes him the length of an awkwardly long pause to express how happy he is. Then, after the pause, he looks at you and goes, “Oh, ya.” Sometimes if he really likes it, after the pause and before the “oh, ya” he’ll just look at you and widen his eyes. And if he really, really likes it, while he looks at you with wide eyes, he’ll put his hand on his chest like he’s in actually in pain it’s so good.

When Kenton tried this cake for the first time, he did all those things. I knew I had to try and get the recipe, and turns out it came from a church cook book. Isn’t that precious? Kenton’s sweet family member sent it to me in the mail with little notes throughout pointing to other dishes we should try. It’s taken me almost 3 years to finally make it, but with yesterday being his 29th bday and us finally being in our new home in Dripping Springs I thought I’d give it a shot!

Notes: if you love bananas, or have a banana loving friend or significant other, then this is a recipe to try. But if you don’t like bananas then just enjoy the pictures. It’s far from a subtle banana taste, so it’s a banana lovers cake for sure! It’s super easy, too, so a good starter recipe for novice bakers like myself. I am so far from being a contestant on The British Baking Show (though I recently had an #EBooneBride recently tell me that she had a dream I won a baking show, so here’s hoping that’s in my future! Still working on it, Krystal!), so I have basically no baking related notes to share with you other than the recipe and what the instructions are, haha. So don’t get mad at me if you bake this and it turns out bad or you hate it – I’m just the messenger! But I will say, if you’re itching to get better at baking and break in your round cake pans with an easy recipe, this is a good one to start with! And here’s hoping your banana lover will do all the approving signs when they bite into it, too!

Banana Cake

1 Yellow Cake Mix | 1/4 cup oil | 4 eggs | 1 box banana instant pudding | 1/2 cup mashed banana | 1 cup water

Mix all ingredients together and pour into a greased or prepared 9×13 or 2 prepared 9 inch rounds. Bake at 350 for 50-55 min for the 9×13 or 25-30 for the rounds.

Icing:

1 box powdered sugar (this is what the recipe says, but I did not do that much – I probably used 2 cups – but eyeballed the consistency and just kept pouring until it was how I wanted it) | 3 ounces cream cheese for 9×13 or 8 oz for 2 rounds) softened | 1/2 cup margarine for 9×13 or 1/4 cup for rounds) softened | 1 teaspoon vanilla | 2-3 teaspoons milk as needed (again eyeball it – you don’t want runny icing)

Okay actually I do have a few tips: pull the cakes out of the pans and stick (separate) in the fridge if you’re in a rush to get them iced. They need to be cool or the icing will melt. Also, make sure your icing is thick enough to spread easily and not see the cake beneath.

Decorate how you please and enjoy!

And just a little treat to all of you who made it to the end of this post: Bowie trying to pull a Howie and begging for banana (cake).