Banana Layer Cake With Caramel Icing

My mom was a terrific cook and baker. She was trained as a dietitian and home economist and pursued her career as a Director of School Food Service for our school district—quite an accomplishment in the late 1960s for a woman.  

I had five siblings and when we were young and our mom was home with us she baked every day, usually cookies or brownies, and sometimes, what cookbook author Marion Cunningham calls “everyday” or “neighborhood” cakes, which is the category I would put this cake into. It’s quick to put together, with ingredients you usually have on hand, and can be made in a sheet pan or as cupcakes, so it’s easy to transport and share at a potluck or picnic in the park. It’s also perfect to pack in a lunchbox because the cooked icing cools into a hard surface. You can wrap it up and still have all the icing intact when you open it to eat! This recipe is also great as a delicious way to use up ripe bananas, and a fun alternative to banana bread.  

I remember having it often, and it was one of the early recipes I learned to bake with my mom. We all loved the slightly sweet, moist cake, and the flavor and crunchy texture of the caramel icing was so delicious and different from usual icings. I was a particular fan of the icing—sometimes I eat just it and leave the cake! Mom scolded me for that, and I don’t know why I didn’t think to just take the piece of cake with no icing and throw it away!

I have made it many, many, times over the years. I love to bake and cook for my family and friends and have taken it to many neighborhood pool parties and barbecues, delivered it with a meal to a new mom or family dealing with an illness or death. And used up my ripe bananas for after-school snacks or lunchbox treats. It’s one of those recipes that intertwines itself into every part of life.

When I make this cake I often think of my mom and my grandmother, who passed it down from her mother (who I did not know as she passed away when I was young). It has created one more thread of connection to so many wonderful memories and stories of my youth and now with my own family. — Mary Vail-Grube, Allen, Texas