Bar 74: Vanilla Bean Banana

Shopping List

1 box yellow cake mix

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 (14 oz) can of sweetened condensed milk
1 cup mashed banana
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scooped out (about 2 teaspoons), divided
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 cups powdered sugar
a splash or two of milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease (I use Pam) a 9×13 baking dish.

In a large mixing bowl, combine your cake mix, vegetable oil and 2 eggs with an electric mixer.  Once smooth, pour half of your batter into prepared baking dish and spread out to form an even layer.

In a second bowl, combine your mashed banana with your can of condensed milk.  Stir in about a teaspoon of vanilla bean.  Mix this together with a spoon and then spread it out over your first layer in the baking dish.

Take the other half of your cake batter and dot it around the top of the banana layer.  It won’t spread all the way across, just drop big dots of batter all of the top.

Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until the bars are pretty much set in the center.  Remove bars from oven and cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting, beat with an electric mixer your softened butter with your powdered sugar and milk.  Add more powdered sugar if the frosting is too thin or more milk if it’s too thick.  Once it reaches the right consistency, stir in your remaining teaspoon or so of vanilla bean.

Frost cooled bars.  Store in the fridge when not enjoying.

The banana make these bars so moist and delicious while the frosting just takes them over the top.  Enjoy!