There’s no shame in going bananas over this cake

Features

Related Photos

September 30, 2009

Anonymous The Laurel Leader-Call Wed Sep 30, 2009, 11:12 AM CDT

I’ve always had a love-hate relationship with cake mixes.

On one hand, I don’t remember ever seeing a Betty Crocker box in my grandmother’s kitchen. Likewise, I was raised in a home where “from scratch” was the only way to go when it was time to bake any cake, ranging from decorated birthday cakes to my mother’s famous multi-layer Butterfinger cake.

In the privacy of my own home, more than a few cakes have sprung from the red cardboard box. I’m always careful to add just enough extra ingredients to convince myself I’m not disgracing my family’s lineage of great bakers.

My shame subsided when I read an article about Anne Byrn, the author of The Cake Mix Doctor cookbooks.

A former food editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, she wrote an article for Nashville’s The Tennessean in 1998 on doctoring cake mixes. In the article, she asked the paper's readers to send in their suggestions. After receiving 500 responses within a week, she wrote her first '”The Cake Mix Doctor,” which has sold several million copies.

Byrn’s philosophy is, if you don't have the time - or patience - to bake from scratch, don’t despair. Use a mix, add other ingredients to spice it up and make a frosting from scratch while the cake’s baking.

I couldn’t believe somebody actually understood me and my approach to cake-baking! I was even more impressed when I read her philosophy on cake mixes:

“The thing about mixes is you can’t mess them up. They’ve been road-tested like the steel-belted tires on a car.” She also repeated two statistics that support my cause – cake mixes are used in more than 60 percent of American households, and about 300 million boxes are sold each year.

Feeling vindicated, I made the banana cake from her cookbook, but substituted cream cheese icing in place of the caramel she suggests. The cake emerged a deep golden color and the pale yellow icing with a hint of banana added the perfect light touch. Warm from the oven, it tasted like one of my grandmother’s creations.

Just the stamp of approval I needed to continue my love affair with cake mixes.

Go Bananas Cake

1 package (18 1/4 ounces) plain yellow cake mix

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

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

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 13-by-9-inch baking pan with shortening, and dust with flour. Shake out excess flour. Place cake mix, brown sugar and cinnamon in a large mixing bowl. Add mashed bananas, 1 cup water, oil and eggs. Blend with an electric mixer at medium speed for 2-3 minutes until well blended. Pour into prepared pan, and place on center rack of oven.

Bake until top is lightly browned, about 40 minutes. Remove from oven, and cool on a wire rack.

Go Bananas Cream Cheese Frosting

4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter, at room temperature

1 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar

1 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 teaspoon imitation banana flavor (can substitute rum flavoring if can’t find banana)

Place cream cheese and butter in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until combined. Add confectioners' sugar a bit at a time, and blend 1 minute. Add flavoring, and blend at medium speed 1 minute more. Spread on cooled cake, then sprinkle top with walnuts.

(Adapted from “The Cake Mix Doctor” by Anne Byrn

Kara Kimbrough writes a syndicated food column. Email her at kkprco@yahoo.com.

Text Only | Photo Reprints

Features

Family & Friends Day at Heidelberg church
Wesley Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church of Heidelberg recently celebrated its Family and Friends Day.

September 10, 2011 1 Photo
Leaf River recognized as environmental leader
A Perry County business was recently recognized by the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality as one of the state’s 10 new environmental leaders.

January 31, 2011 1 Photo
Glenn retires after 41-year banking career
Danny Glenn, one of Laurel’s most well-known and respected community bankers, retired Friday after a 41-year banking career.

January 31, 2011 3 Photos
Literacy council planning gospel concert fundraiser
Members of the Pine Belt Adult Literacy Council are busy finalizing plans for a gospel concert that will serve as a fundraiser to aid the organization in its efforts to combat illiteracy in the area.

January 29, 2011 1 Photo
No Pain, No Pearl
When Grandmother went to heaven, I was given her pearl necklace. Looking at the pearls reminds me that a lot of pain caused such beauty.

January 15, 2011 1 Photo
Are you prepared to share the Gospel?
Dear friends, we are now two weeks into the year 2011. Hopefully, our many optimistic thoughts surrounding this New Year are still very bright! Yes, we still have time to straighten out what we made crooked last year — by following through with the commitments we miscarried then. So, this is still the time of year to renew our resolve to recover and maintain our spiritual, domestic, vocational, and civil priorities.

January 15, 2011 1 Photo
McLaurin named Religious Leader of the Year
Rev. James E. McLaurin of Laurel has been named the 2011 Religious Leader of the Year by the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Parade Committee of the Pine Belt.

January 15, 2011 1 Photo
Degree offering aimed at ‘new atheism’ movement
Wesley Biblical Seminary is trying to combat the “new atheism” movement with an Apologetics degree program offered for the first time this fall.

January 1, 2011
With or Without Cheer
Once I typed a column named “New Year With a Cheer”, but times have changed dramatically.

January 1, 2011 1 Photo
Happy New Year - 2011!
Dear friends, yet again, we are beginning to embark upon a brand new year!

January 1, 2011 1 Photo
More Features Headlines

Features

Search Results

Related Photos

There’s no shame in going bananas over this cake

Do you believe changes need to be made in Mississippi's mental health system?

Site Map