Who likes cake?

I know I do! I look forward to a good celebration for a nice slice, but why wait for a special occasion when you can bake one up today! That's exactly what I did a week or so ago. (Apologies for it taking me so long to post this.) I was looking up cakes to make for Mitchell's birthday, of course on Pinterest, and I stumbled across this beauty. I couldn't wait until Mitchell's birthday to bake this one up, so in the oven it went!

Nilla Wafer Banana Caramel Cake
adapted from seriouseats.com

What you'll need:

First, melt some butter in a pan,

Meanwhile, mash up the bananas,

Add the bananas to the pan with the butter along with some brown sugar. Cook for about 10 minutes until the bananas cook down to a paste. Set them aside and let it cool.

Meanwhile, crush up the Nilla wafers.

Mix the cookie crumbs together with flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

In another bowl, combine buttermilk, vanilla, and the bananas.

Now, with either a hand mixer or a stand mixer (I love any chance I get to use mine, even if it's not a KitchenAid...yet!), beat two sticks of butter and brown sugar together. Then add eggs, one at a time.

Then add about a third of the cookie crumb mixture to the mixer.

Then add a third of the banana mixture. Repeat until both mixtures are fully combined.

This is where I realized after the fact that I wanted to add caramel to the cake. Looking back I would have added more than I did. And I would have added it to the mixture to combine it more. You can add caramel now if you wish.

Then pour the batter into a greased cake pan. I used two 9" round pans so I could make a stacked cake. You can choose your preference, but the cook times will vary. (The times used in the recipe are for two round pans.)

I poured caramel over the top of the batter in the pans. I would use a lot more if I did this recipe again. You could use as much as you like, but the taste is very faint if you use just a little.

Use a knife to swirl the caramel throughout the cake batter (for full flavor enhancement!)

Then comes my favorite part, the taste test! Make sure you lick those beaters clean. ;)

Pardon my poor decorating skills, it's part I cut the whole in my "piping bag" (aka ziploc) way too big and part I just have no real experience decorating. That is soon to change though, I had some Amazon credit from trading in some text books and I ordered a decorating kit and a book with tips on how to improve. But anyways, behold the finished product! It tasted amazing!! Try it, I dare you!

Get the full recipe here. (Don't forget to add caramel, you won't regret it!)