Banana Layer Cake - Best Use of Bananas Yet!

Against all the rules of entertaining, I decided to try a new recipe for a recent Christmas party. I was blessed as it turned out to be the best dessert of the evening so thought I would share in case anyone needs a tried and true cake recipe for their own Christmas or New Year.

Banana Sheet Cake
6 tablespoons solid shortening
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
1 cup pureed bananas - about two, large bananas
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup whole milk
1/4 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Vegetable oil spray or grease an 11 1/2 x 8 1/2 pan or whatever will accomodate the batter.

Combine the milk and sour cream and set aside for now.

Beat together the shortening and sugar until well-mixed and crumbly. Beat in the eggs until smooth. Add the rest of the rest of the ingredients including the milk/sour cream mixture, and beat until just mixed and smooth. Pour into the prepared pans and bake at 350 degrees until top is golden and springs back when lightly touched. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack before icing the cake.

Browned Butter Frosting
1 stick or 1/2 cup butter (margarine won't work!)
Approximately 3-4 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a small pot, slowely melt the butter and simmer it (watching carefully!) until it JUST starts to brown and remove it immediately from the flame and pour into a mixing bowl. Beat in small amounts of powdered sugar and the vanilla extract until you get a spreadable icing. Ice the cake and refrigerate to set.

A Blessed Christmas!

The frantic weeks before Christmas should now calm down as we prepare ourselves for Christmas 2012 - the first, last, and only 2012 Christmas that will ever happen! As we wait in the Vigil of Christmas for the celebration of the Birth of Christ, tomorrow, it makes one rethink how this past year has been spent.

As we celebrate with our families, remember to give the gift of prayer to all the people whose Christmas has been changed for them over this past year, friends that have lost loved ones, people involved in tragedies and, especially, the recent event in Connecticut. Cherish the Christmas you have as the next one could entail unexpected changes.