Pondering the Pillsbury Bake Off

So the Pillsbury Bake Off is accepting entries now thru the middle of May for next year's bake off. The grand prize is 1 million dollors, plus all the fancy GE kitchen appliances you could need. The i million is paid out at 50,000 a year for 20 years. I could handle that. It would be like working full time for not working. Anyway, I'm not sure if what I have come up with is good enough or not. I will do more testing and share it to get some feedback. In the mean time though, here is a great banana cake recipe. It originally was in an issue of Cooking Light, but I changed it a little to suit my tastes, without compromising the nutrition info. Enjoy it! Oh, and I don't sprinkle with pecans and coconut.




Banana Layer Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 24 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories :

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
Cake:
Cooking spray
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large egg whites
1 large egg
1 cup bananas -- mashed
1/2 cup buttermilk
Frosting:
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup cream cheese with pineapple -- ¥
3 Tablespoons milk, 1% lowfat
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups powdered sugar
Remaining ingredients:
2 tablespoons pecans, dry-roasted -- finely chopped
2 tablespoons coconut, toasted

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. To prepare cake, coat 2 (8-inch) round cake pans with cooking spray; line bottoms with wax paper. Coat wax paper with cooking spray.

3. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Place granulated sugar, oil, 1-1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract, egg whites, and egg in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add mashed banana; beat well. Add flour mixture and buttermilk alternately to sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture.

4. Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pans 10 minutes on wire racks; remove from pans. Peel off wax paper; cool completely on wire racks.

5. To prepare frosting, place cream cheese and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until fluffy. Add powdered sugar; beat at low speed until smooth.

6. Place 1 cake layer on a plate; spread with 1/2 cup icing, and top with other cake layer. Spread remaining icing over top and sides of cake. Sprinkle pecans and coconut over top of cake. Store cake loosely covered in refrigerator. Yield: 16 servings (serving size: 1 slice).


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Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 195 Calories; 7g Fat (30.3% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 32g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 16mg Cholesterol; 102mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Fruit; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 1 Fat; 1 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.