Easiest Ever Sour Cream Banana Cake/Bread

With the holidays approaching, we all want the easiest, most delicious, inexpensive, and oh...let's throw in... the most beautiful recipes, don't we?
That's not asking for a whole lot, is it?
So many of our favorite traditions revolve around food.
The smell of that succulent turkey roasting, the baking gingerbread that Grandma used to make every Christmas Eve, snuggling around the crackling fireplace after caroling with my whip cream dolloped hot chocolate mug nestled between frigid fingers are just a few ways that my senses are stimulated. It's amazing how instantly I am brought back to those special moments by just an aroma.
I can't wait to spend some time sharing our traditions around food, and I'll invite you to share some as well.....but that's for another post. :)
This is a new recipe for me and I am thinking it may become the start of a timeless tradition. Certainly one that will not be regulated to the "holiday" box, but one that may become a once a week kind of tradition.

Something that you might not know is that I am a foodie at heart. I am a frugal foodie that relishes in finding entrees, desserts, and appetizers that taste like they are gourmet, but that any one (with a little guidance) can do themselves.
I don't get around to posting many recipes because those ascetically pleasing pictures never seem to happen before or during the food making process.
I always remember as we're eating, and true to my fashion, just a bit too late.

A food post with out pictures is like cake without frosting, but this time....I have the recipe that meets all those above criteria, eye candy pictures, cake that is too die for (even without the frosting), and it took me only FIVE minutes to whip up.
Yes, people, it's true!!

With company being here for the week, I needed something quick, but show stopping.
I realized that this twist on a box mix (shh...don't tell) could pass for dessert with dinner, and/or breakfast in the morning.
And guess what....it worked.
Typically, I am not a box mix kind of gal when it comes to company, but after this success, I may never again go back to scratch. hee hee.
So go get your pen.................... I am waiting.
You probably have all the ingredients in your cupboard right now, so bless your hubby tonight and he will ask, "What's the special occasion?"
You can decide how cheesy you want the response to be, and right now my mind is flooding with all kinds of hysterical responses, but something centering around the theme of "MY HUSBAND ROCKS" would suffice.

Open up the cabinets/pantry and find:
I pkg. (2 layer size) yellow, white, or butter cake mix
(for those of you who need things to be exact...I am so sorry, but I truly think any of these would work perfectly)
3 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3...although I used 4 1/2 because they had completely turned brown, and totally brown bananas are the best for bread and cakes, if you didn't know)
1 cup sour cream (yes, this is what makes this so incredibly moist)
1/4 cup oil
When ever I use anything like a box mix, whether it be for cakes or even pancakes, I always add a little dash of flavoring such as strawberry or gingerbread...whatever I have on hand.
For this recipe, I added a "dash" of almond flavoring/syrup (the kind you might put in your coffee). This extra magic ingredient is what fools everyone into thinking you made it completely from scratch, and that's the effect we are going for, right?

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Beat cake mix, eggs, bananas, sour cream and oil with mixer on low or until moistened, scraping bottom of bowl often. Beat on medium for 2 minutes.
This is what nice exact recipes tell you to do, but if you don't have a mixer, it's all good. Do you think Laura Ingalls had a mixer...don't think so.

Now, decide what kind of pan you want to use. A 13x9 greased and floured one would be great, but if you start yard saling like I have been telling you to, you might have an adorable pan like this just calling your name from the back of the cupboard.

Yep, the difference between a yummy tasting cake, and a yummy tasting cake which turns into eye candy, is this $1 pan that I picked up a few weeks ago when I was out treasure hunting.

Bake 35 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean. You may also do this recipe in a full size bundt pan and the effect would be equally ideal. Cool cake completely in pan on wire rack.

I know, I know, aren't they adorable?

I served these for breakfast with no frosting and called them banana bread....hee hee

Can I tell you how moist and melt in the mouth marvelous they were?
Did I tell you that this only took less than five minutes of "work"?

The above pictures shows a "do as I say, not as I do."
I didn't wait for it to cool completely. I was too excited to make some eye candy . Lack of patience = glass with steam....... :)
I split the batter in half between the mini bundt cakes, and a 9 inch round pan. I then frosted the round cake with a traditional cream cheese frosting.
1 pkg. Cream Cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
1 pkg. powdered sugar (about 4 cups)
Beat cream cheese and butter with mixer until well blended. Gradually add sugar, beating well after each addition.
Spread top with frosting.
If you have used a 13 x 9 pan, then cut cake crosswise in half. Frost the top of one, and then top with remaining cake half and repeat by frosting top and sides. You can press nuts onto the sides or sprinkle with chocolate jimmies. If you are doing this at Christmas time, then green and white sprinkles would be pretty as well.
No lie - I was so excited to photograph a food post from start to finish, but by the time I went to take the picture of the finished frosted product, this is what I found.
Yep, it was a hit, and truly, the frosting is not even needed.

But just in case you need the "finished product" pictures, I had fun searching through Country Living. They came through for me, and theirs look almost as nice as mine.
Too bad you couldn't see my masterpiece....wink, wink.
I love the simplicity of the powdered sugar.

Here they used chocolate cake and inverted two of my mini cakes to form pumpkins...too cute.
Really, I almost thought of that.

Charles Schiller

Yep, this is what mine looked like with the cream cheese frosting.

Even a little bedlam made it into the picture by a bowl-licking Lab named Lola.

Did I tell you that when Country Living suggested where to buy those cute little mini bundt pans, they listed them for $39 plus S/H (see below).
Did I tell you that I paid one little buck for mine, one shamalama, one greenback, one casharo, one coinage, uno dollaro...yes, people that is...

One Dollar Bill to you. No tax or shipping.
I am going to convert some of you non yard salers yet.
Just wait til I start posting all my finds. The photos are stacking up. :)
Since yard sale-ing season is almost coming to an end, I am going to save them for the doldrums of winter, so that your excitement will build up so much that you won't be able to contain yourself. Just wait!

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