Evening Relief Society February 21, 2012

Best Ever Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Cake Ingredients
1 1/2 cups bananas, mashed, ripe
2 tsp. lemon juice
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 1/8 cup sugar
3 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cup buttermilk

Frosting Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 tsp. vanilla
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Garnish
chopped walnuts

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees.
2. Grease and flour 9x13 pan.
3. In a small bowl, mix mashed bananas with the lemon juice; set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
5. In a large bowl, cream 3/4 cup butter and 2 1/8 cups sugar until light and fluffy.
6. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in 2 tsp. vanilla.
7. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk.
8. Stir in banana mixture.
9. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for one hour. Check.
10. Remove from oven and place directly into the freezer for 45 minutes.  This will make cake moist.
11. For the frosting, cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth.
12. Beat in 1 tsp. vanilla.
13. Add powdered sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high until smooth.
14. Spread on cake.
15. Sprinkle chopped walnuts over top of frosting, if desired.

Ashlynn made some last minute changes and altered this recipe!  It was excellent. We will post the changes.
Shared by:  Ashlynn Hernandez  from: Food.com #67256


These are the changes Ashlynn made:


Cake bites
Makes about 5 & 1/2 dozen
Total time 3 hours and 20 minutes.
Ingredients
1 box of cake mix*
3/4 cup frosting
20 ounces of candy coating or chocolate chips
** mix and match flavors of cake, frosting and coating/ chips to get a unique creation.
Directions
1. bake cake as directed. Cool completely about 1 hour
2. In large bowl crumble cake. Add frosting, mix well. Roll into 1 inch balls, place on wax paper lined cookie sheet. Freeze about 45 minutes or until firm. Refrigerate to keep chilled.
3. In 1 quart microwaveable bowl, microwave 8 oz of chocolate/candy coating uncovered on high 1 minute 30 seconds, stir. Continue microwaving and stirring in 15 second increments until melted and smooth.
4. remove 1/3 of balls at a time from the refrigerator. Using 2 forks dip.and roll 1 ball at a time in melted coating/ chips. Place on wax paper lined cookie sheet, immediately decorate if desired. Refrigerate cake balls about 10 minutes or until coating/ chips are hardened again. Serve at room temperature. Store in airtight container.


*What I did was use the banana cake recipe instead of the box of cake mix. Instead of store bought frosting I used cream cheese frosting from the cake recipe and some caramel ice cream topping syrup. I used milk chocolate chips because they didnt have the candy coating. Decorated with walnuts. If using toothpicks; first roll the balls in chocolate, then insert toothpick, then dip in nuts.

- Ashlynn Hernandez

Acquiring Possessions in the Lords Time
Katie Olive referred to the article in the January 2008 Ensign titled: Happily Living Within Our Means
http://www.lds.org/ensign/2008/01/happily-living-within-our-means?lang=eng
Katie has allot of knowledge on the subject of finance and organization. She referred to the book entitled;
Wanting More: The Challenge of Enjoyment in the Age of Addiction by Mark D. Chamberlain. You can get this book used on Amazon for about $7.

Planning for the Future-Projects and Purchases
Patty Peacock shared pictures of her newly remodeled office/craft room. She has done a wonderful job with the project.  She shared her hints of always shopping with a list, planning, planning, planning when it comes to any project, selecting paint colors and items with much thought and research so that you are happy with the finished product.

Announcements:  Zumba class at Kittitas Elementary every Wednesday at 3:30 contact Tanya Gearheart.
Daily Walking at 7:00 am contact Nancy Crosslin.