Banana poke cake

This week I have been completely swamped.  Monday afternoon as I was making dinner, on the phone with my friend, discussing the tea cakes and petit fours for her cousin's wedding shower/tea party, I got another call from a woman who is a sales rep for 31.  She asked if I could make her 8 dozen black and pink, purse shaped cookies by Thursday.  I should have turned her down, especially knowing what all I had on my plate (the wedding shower food, Aaron's mom's birthday cake and dinner, and ya know, all the stuff I normally do during the week) but she said she would pay me double, so I couldn't bring myself to turn down the money.



So I spent Wednesday making 4 batches of sugar cookies and 2 batches of royal icing.

I couldn't find a purse shaped cookie cutter on such short notice so I had to cut out a template and cut each cookie by hand with a knife.

I spent the evening baking the cookies and lining them with icing.

It took me 5 hours to finish icing them after I put Bailey to bed.  By the time I finished it was nearly 4:00 in the morning.

I think they turned out well considering.

I took Thursday off from cooking to clean up the mess I left from the cookies.  It took forever to get the kitchen clean and the dishes done.  I rearranged the menu because I didn't cook dinner Wednesday night.  Aaron said he would rather have chicken and dumplings than the new recipe for the week so we are going to squeeze in the taco tater tot bake next week.

Friday was Aaron's mom's birthday.  I didn't know what kind of cake to make for her, but I have seen this banana poke cake all over Pinterest and Facebook.  I decided it would be easy so I went for it and man was it good!

Friday was also a busy day because not only did I make the banana cake, but I also made the pound cake for the petit fours, the dough for the tea cakes, and dinner to take to Aaron's parents' house.

Then Saturday (which, for me, feels like today still since I've not been to bed yet even though technically it is already Sunday morning) I had to proctor the ACT exams from 7:00 am to 1:00 pm.  Then when I finally got home we had to go back out to Aaron's parents' house for spaghetti (which was so delicious, I ate twice as much as I should have) and we didn't get home until very, very late and I still had to bake the tea cakes and cut and assemble the petit fours.  I didn't quite finish yet, but I don't want to coat the petit fours in the white chocolate until about an hour before I leave to deliver them.

As I said, it has been one heck of a week for me.  I am so looking forward to next week.  I will be hosting dinner on Tuesday night for my brother and my Mom.  We are having calzones, which were planned for later in the week, but since I still needed to fit in the taco tater tot bake I figured it wouldn't hurt to go ahead and move the calzones to Tuesday.  I have no other plans for the week.  I will probably spend Monday cleaning the house, but Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday are all mine.  I am hoping to spend some time snuggling with Bailey and sleeping in.

So, since the cake I made for Aaron's Mom was so easy I thought I would go ahead and share the recipe.  It doesn't require much work really.  You use a box cake mix, packaged banana pudding, and packaged whipped topping (I actually made my own whipped cream because the stuff in the tub makes Aaron's Mom sick).  Everything about this recipe screams convenient... oh, and delicious too!

Banana Poke Cake

1 box yellow cake mix (and the ingredients the box calls for)
2 packages banana pudding mix
4 cups milk
1 tub whipped topping
20 vanilla wafers, crushed
2-3 bananas, sliced (optional)

Start by preparing the cake according to the directions on the box.  Just be sure to bake it in the 9x13 pan.

Once it's baked, let the cake cool in the pan for about 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, poke holes all over the top of the cake.  I did this with a chop stick, but you could use anything similar in diameter.  You want the holes to be small enough not to rip the whole cake apart, but big enough to allow the pudding to sink in.

Mix one package of the pudding in a medium mixing bowl with 2 cups of the milk.

Pour the pudding over the cake, making sure to cover the entire cake.

If using bananas, spread an even layer of banana slices over the pudding.

Mix the other package of pudding with the remaining 2 cups of milk.

Cover the bananas with the pudding and spread it evenly with a spatula or spoon.  Put the cake in the fridge and allow the pudding to set up for about an hour.

Spread the whipped topping over the pudding and sprinkle the crushed vanilla wafers on top.  Keep in the fridge until ready to serve.

This thing is like banana pudding on steroids.  It's fantastic and you should try it!

Oh, and I almost forgot!  The best moment of the entire week was this one right here!  Bailey was getting sleepy at Grandmother and Papaw's house and decided to snuggle up a bit.