SKINNY BANANA PUDDING CAKE

Some of my quilting friends are coming over to play canasta this afternoon....remember sometimes when we meet to quilt, we play cards instead or after we finish if we don't have much going on.

Well, we didn't get to meet this month as Kay was having fun playing with her grandsons.  So I decided we needed to get together to play cards, at least.

The first dessert I made "flopped" (we won't talk about that) and so I had to hunt through my recipes quickly last night to see what I could make.  I found this recipe for Banana Pudding Cake that I had copied from Woman's Day magazine back in 1982. (The first date on the back of the card was 10-82.)  The recipe called for bananas, a yellow cake mix, and a pudding mix, among other things.  Well, I had everything but the banana pudding, but I did have a vanilla pudding.  Even better the cake mix and pudding mix I had were sugar free.  (I knew we wouldn't eat the whole cake and so I needed to have something leftover that my husband wouldn't hesitate to eat.)

As always with my recipes, if you aren't concerned about calories or sugar intake, just use a regular yellow cake mix without the pudding added (This recipe dates back to before companies started adding the pudding mix in the cake mix.) and pudding mix.

SKINNY BANANA PUDDING CAKE

1 or 2     small ripe bananas

1            pkg yellow cake mix (sugar free)

1            pkg banana creme or vanilla instant pudding (sugar free)

4            eggs

1           cup water

1/4        cup canola oil

1/2        cup finely chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease and flour a 10-inch tube or Bundt pan.  Can also bake it in a 9 x 13 - inch pan.

Slice or break bananas into large pieces in a mixer bowl. (My bananas were more normal size so I used 1-1/2. I rarely buy small bananas.)

Beat until well mashed.

Add remaining ingredients.

Blend til moistened. Scrape the sides of the bowl.

Then beat at medium speed for 2 minutes.

Pour into prepared pan

Bake for 60 - 70 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean.  (I baked mine about 55 minutes.)

Remove from oven and cool in pan for 15 minutes.

Remove from pan and cool on rack.

Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar if you like....won't be "no sugar added" then, but a little bit will taste good.

Well, the girls are gone.  It was a really fun afternoon....Kay, Sharon, and I won.  It would have been fun even if I hadn't been on the winning team, but it didn't hurt.  The cake was very, very good and the girls all liked it.  We managed to eat half of it. My husband has already enjoyed a piece of it since he got home.

It probably won't be any left by Monday.