Banana Split Cake

Summer finally came to the state of Utah! It seems like Mother Nature is dragging her heels changing seasons around here... Winter lasted until April, and now here we are in the middle of June just drying out from the spring rain.

This year, I feel very blessed to have a real honest-to-goodness air conditioner--it's the first year since 2001 that I've been in control of the temperature in my house. But even still, summer is hot, and it can be a challenge to cook your food without cooking yourself. We wind up firing up the grill quite a bit, and meal salads become a staple. So what do you do when someone in the family has a birthday and wants cake? Slave away in the kitchen with a roasting oven? Never! Try this delicious recipe for banana split cake! It doesn't have ice cream in it, so you don't need to worry about it melting all over the place if you have an outdoor party. As a warning, the recipe calls for raw eggs, but you can use a pasteurized egg product instead if you want. The buttery layer just melts in your mouth... it is so delicious!

Banana Split Cake

The recipe is huge, but it halves easily.

1 stick (½ c.) butter or margarine
2 c. cinnamon graham cracker crumbs
2 sticks (1 c.) butter, softened to room temperature—Must be butter!
2 c. powdered sugar
2 eggs
2 bananas, sliced
1/3 pint strawberries, sliced
1 can crushed pineapple, drained well
1 tub (13 oz.) cool whip
chocolate syrup, chopped maraschino cherries, chopped nuts

1. Melt 1 stick butter in a 9x13 pan. Pat graham cracker crumbs to form a crust. Bake the crust for 6 or so minutes (until it starts to brown) at 350. Be sure to COOL THE CRUST COMPLETELY before you spread the next layer over it, or the butter will melt and you'll have to start over.

2. Combine 2 sticks butter, powdered sugar, and eggs in a mixer. Beat for about 5 minutes, scraping sides of bowl occasionally, until mixture is fluffy. Spread over graham cracker crust. Partially freeze it by placing the pan in the freezer for about 30 minutes. You don't want it completely frozen though or the cake will be too hard to cut and eat. (If you want you could use real ice cream for this layer and bypass the raw eggs, but the buttery stuff is sooo delicious.)

3. Arrange sliced bananas over butter-sugar layer. Arrange sliced strawberries (I've used frozen strawberries before with this recipe. Fresh taste better, but you can use frozen if you either keep them frozen or thaw and partially drain them) over bananas. Spread crushed pineapple over strawberries.

4. Spread Cool Whip over fruit. Drizzle chocolate syrup on top and sprinkle with chopped cherries and nuts.

Enjoy!