Banana Crunch Cake

Some of the best recipes are the oldies but goodies. This one was the winner of the 1973 Pillsbury Bake Off. It's a classic! If you've never tried it, you clearly must! It's one of Karen's signature cakes and my family loves it.
Your family will love it too!


1/2 cup flour
1 cup coconut
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cup sliced very ripe bananas (about 2 large)
1/2 cup sour cream
4 eggs
1 pkg Pillsbury Plus Yellow Cake mix


Heat oven to 350F.
Grease and flour 10 inch tube pan. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. In medium bowl, combine flour, coconut, rolled oats, brown sugar and pecans; mix well. Using fork or pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture is crumbly; set aside. In large bowl, combine bananas, sour cream and eggs; blend until smooth. Add cake mix; beat 2 minutes at high speed. Spread 1/3 of the batter in greased and floured pan; sprinkle with 1/3 of coconut mixture. Repeat layers twice more using remaining batter and coconut mixture, ending with coconut mixture. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool upright in pan 15 minutes; remove from pan. Place on serving plate, coconut side up. Cool completely.

Tip:
Whenever you bake with bananas, it's best to use the ones that are really ripe. Did I say ripe? I mean REALLY ripe, like the ones with large brown specks all over the peel. If your bananas are still slightly green, you won't get the sweet banana flavor that you're looking for. Instead you'll get sort of a banana peel flavor, which is not very pleasant at all.