Banana Carrot Cake with Pineapple Cream Cheese Filling

Have you ever had a bite of cake where you just felt like you may have died and gone to heaven? This one did it for me. I'd been thinking of mixing banana bread with carrot cake for a while now, and I finally had the chance to do it! I didn't know how it would turn out, so this was an experiment for me. What a wonderful one it was! I had cream cheese frosting made from a previous baking project and had just enough to ice this wonderful cake. I know a lot of people put pineapple in their carrot cake, but again, I was blending banana AND carrot, and I wanted something different. A cup of cream cheese frosting plus a cup of drained pineapples tidbits = the filling! Yummy yummy. I could eat spoonfuls of the stuff I tell ya! It was THAT good... This may be something nice to make for your Memorial Day gathering or just for the heck of it. Who needs an excuse to eat cake?!?

Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens Banana Bread

Here are the ingredients you'll need for the cake:

(Makes an 8" 2-layer cake)

1 1/2 cups A/P Flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 egg whites, lightly beaten
2 ripened and mashed bananas (I use 2 medium-large bananas for this)
3/4 cup of sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 4 oz jar of carrot baby food

1 cup of shredded carrots

1 - 2 tablespoons of honey
PAM or non-stick spray for pans

For the frosting:
You may use your favorite cream cheese frosting recipe - click HERE for the link to my fave - it is the recipe I used for this cake - you may need to halve the recipe as this makes A LOT. Reserve 1 cup of frosting to mix with 1 cup of pineapple tidbits - as DRAINED as you can get them (pressing with all your might, and then some, in a colander). After mixing the 1 cup of tidbits and 1 cup of frosting in a bowl, cover and place this mixture in the refrigerator as it stays fairly soft.

Crushed Walnuts for garnish (optional)

Whisk all of your dry ingredients together in a medium bowl and set aside. 

Combine mashed banana, beaten eggs, sugar, honey, oil, and the entire jar of baby food in a bowl. Add your shredded carrot and mix until combined. Using a whisk, fork, or stand mixer, start blending in your dry ingredients and mix until combined. Separate evenly into 2 lightly greased 8" pans and pop into an oven that has been pre-heated to 350 degrees.

Bake for about 20 minutes, as these layers are somewhat thin, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Allow cakes to cool, and level them if necessary. In order to fill the cake, I made a small dam of plain cream cheese frosting before filling with the pineapple cream cheese frosting. After filling in the cake, place second layer on top and frost and garnish your cake as desired. I hope you enjoy this cake as much as I did!

As always, I appreciate your comments, thoughts and ideas.

Thank you so much for looking, now go bake something and spread some YUM!