My sister and I grew up on the family farm, and our mom was a good cook who put three hot meals on the table year round. Our desserts were mainly fruit pies and puddings such as tapioca or chocolate, with an occasional cake for a birthday. One that was especially delicious was mom's white layer cake with sliced bananas between the layers and whipped cream frosting.
Our local supermarket has a wonderful cake they call the Fruit Basket Cake. It is a white layer cake with sliced bananas and sliced strawberries between the layers with whipped cream frosting. It is really tall with all the fruit between the layers, and really expensive as well!! We have indulged in this cake for two or three very special celebrations, but you can make one at home for a few dollars compared with spending a small fortune at the bakery.
Here is the cast of characters: Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe Classic White Cake (or any white cake mix), oil, water, egg whites, heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar, bananas and strawberries.
Grease the cake pans including the sides. These pans are my old faithful Bake King pans with the arm that slides around to release the cake after it is baked. Very, very handy!! :D
Add some flour...
Shake the flour around the bottom...
And the sides...
Now that the baking pans are prepared and the oven is preheating, let's start making the cake. Open the bag and pour the mix into the mixer bowl.
Add the water...
And the egg whites...OOPS! One of the yolks fell in...No worries, it didn't make a bit of difference to the quality of the cake. :D (It's challenging to add ingredients with one hand and take photos with the other!)
Add the oil...
And mix according to directions.
Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake.
Take out the baked layers and set aside on racks to cool while you whip the cream and slice the fruit.
Pour the whipping cream into the mixer bowl. I used three cups, one pint box and one 1/2 pint box.
It is always better to have more whipped cream than less so you can cover the cake. Any extra can be used in your morning coffee...better than Starbucks!! Oh yummy...
While whipping the cream, add some powdered sugar to sweeten it. I added three scoops, but my family likes it sweet! Gosh, I'm giving away all the family secrets...
Now I can just hear my mother admonishing me to not whip the cream too long or it will turn to butter!
I actually had that happen once...so I had to send my hubby to the store for more whipping cream. You want the cream to be whipped with stiff peaks so it will stay on the cake, but you don't want butter!! :D
Put a doily on the cake plate and start to frost the bottom layer with the whipped cream. As our 9 1/2 year old great-niece Elizabeth said recently, "Everything looks better with a doily on the plate!"
Ummmm...it's starting to look like a cake...
Slice a banana thinly and evenly...
And lay the pieces carefully on the top, then spread a little more frosting over the bananas.
Put the second layer on top and start frosting it...
Slice the strawberries thinly and lay on a plate...
Shake on a sweetener that you use: regular sugar, Splenda or in this case, Stevia...
Lay the sliced strawberries on the top of the cake...
And frost the top layer with the remaining whipped cream...
Don't forget to do a good job on the sides as well...
When I was slicing the strawberries, I noticed that one of them looked like a red heart, so I saved it for the top of the cake...I made it for my Aunt Dorothy's 97th birthday, so Happy Birthday Aunt D.!!
Be sure to refrigerate your cake until you serve it. Then enjoy, enjoy, and make some memories!
Note: For a red, white and blue cake add some blueberries between the layers.
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2 comments:
This is one of my favorites! Looks D-LISH (as Rachel Ray would say!)
Sylvia, this cake looks wonderful. I'm going to make one tomorrow! I so enjoyed the way you put it together on the website a pleasure to follow along! Thanks
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