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–+ servings

Bananapapple Cake with Beer Icing in a Cast Iron Skillet

Sulae @ beerandiron.com
A few weeks ago we went camping with this desert on the menu. There are three things that mix well: Camping, Dutch oven cooking, and BEER. And, when camping in a very public, people-filled campsite on an open plain in the high desert with it’s unpredictable weather, BEER helps maintain that bit of emotional stoicism and makes for a fabulous camping trip.
It was on this camping trip where we came up with this name, "Bananappapple." Yes, there's a story behind this name that involves beer and giggling.
This recipe does very well in a 10" or an 8" cast iron Dutch oven at camp.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 8 People
Calories 533 kcal

Equipment

  • 10.25” Cast Iron Skillet
  • Large Bowl to Mix Everything Up In
  • Medium Bowl* to Mix The Icing In
  • Fork to Mash the Bananas and Scramble the Eggs
  • Spoon or Rubber Spatula to Mix the Ingredients
  • Cooling Rack

Ingredients
  

The Dry Stuff (but don’t mix them up quite yet):

  • 1 ½ cups All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 cup Granulated Sugar
  • ½ tsp. Baking Soda
  • ½ tsp. Salt
  • ½ tsp. Cinnamon
  • ¾ cup Walnuts Chopped (or Pecans)

The Wet Stuff:

  • ½ cup Pineapple Crushed and Left Undrained but not to "liquid-ey."
  • 2 Eggs Beaten
  • 1 tsp. Vanilla
  • ½ cup Oil We use grapeseed oil but vegetable oil will be OK
  • 1 cup Bananas Ripe and Mashed (about 2 bananas)
  • 1-2 TBLS Butter For Smearing in the Bottom of the Cast Iron Skillet - Separate from the icing butter.

The Icing

  • 1 TBLS Butter At Room Temperature
  • 1 ½ Cups Powdered Sugar Sifted (or not tightly packed)
  • 3 TBLS Beer more as needed to get the right icing consistency but THREE Tablespoons usually does the trick

Instructions
 

Prepare the Cake

  • Using your 10.25” Cast Iron Skillet, smear 1-2 tablespoons of butter all on the inside of the skillet where you’ll be pouring your cake batter once you’ve created it. I smear butter all the way to the edge of the skillet. This will be your non-stick in the making. Keep the “smearing” butter (about 1-2 tablespoons) separate from your icing butter (about 2 tablespoons). BE SURE TO Leave the icing’s 2 tablespoons of butter out to soften and get to “room temperature.” You’ll need this soft butter for the icing later.
  • Preheat Oven to 350°F / 177°C.
  • You see that “1 cup granulated sugar?” That’s a lot of sugar, right? But, this is a desert so don’t skimp out on me. Here’s a trick: AFTER YOU SMEARED THE BUTTER TO THE INSIDE SKILLET SURFACE, pour in the entire cup of sugar into the buttered skillet. Hold it with two hands and rotate it all about to spread the sugar into the butter. The sugar will create a “floured” surface to pour your cake batter into. But, DON’T THROW THE REST OF THAT CUP OF SUGAR OUT. There will be a lot of sugar left; pour that in with the dry ingredients. That will go into the cake!
  • Mix all the dry stuff in a large bowl and sift together: 1 ½ cups flour, the remaining portion of the 1 cup sugar (remember there’s sugar all in the cast iron skillet sticking to the butter coating), ½ tsp baking soda, ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp cinnamon, and mix in the ¾ cups of nuts.
  • In another bowl, scramble the 2 eggs up real good.
  • Mash and measure your bananas (eat the rest…there’s always “the rest”)
  • Mix all the wet stuff in with the eggs: ½ cup crushed pineapple, 1 tsp. vanilla, ½ cups oil, and the 1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 bananas).
  • Now we’re making magic. Mix your wet and dry ingredients together.
  • Pour your batter over into your buttered and sugared 10.25” skillet.
  • Place the skillet in the oven at 350°F / 177°C. We’re baking for 45-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. If you peek, you’ll see the cake “cooking” from the outside towards the center and is a light tan color. Eventually it will start to brown...we’re getting close!
  • Once the cake is done, pull it from the oven and let the cake rest for about 10-20 minutes. This will cause it to shrink and “pull away” from the skillet. If you try to pull it out too soon, it’ll break. Give it a bit of resting time while you finish up that (or pour another) beer.
  • After it’s cooled for about 10 minutes (not more than 20 minutes), run a spatula (or equivalent) around the edge of the skillet between the cake’s edge and the skillet rim to “loosen the cake.” The big question: will it stick and break? Just tossing it out onto a cooling rack may cause breakage due to the motion and less likely due to stickage.
  • With the skillet sitting normally, place a cooling rack or a plate over the top of the skillet. Using both hands (that skillet will still be hot), turn the skillet upside down and the cake should just lay out onto the cooling rack or the plate.
  • Let the cake cool to a “warm temperature.” Unless you want to eat it hot and steaming (it’s delicious that way too especially with some ice cream on top as the ice cream melts and blends with the cake).

Prepare the Icing

  • Step 14: In a medium bowl, mix your powdered sugar and the soft butter.
  • Step 15: Add three tablespoons of beer to the powdered sugar and butter mixture. Start stirring and mixing with a fork to blend. Initially it may look like you need more but you likely don’t; keep mixing.
  • Step 16: Spread icing on top of the cake. The angled edge of the cast iron skillet will give the cake shape a bit of an angle where the icing can “melt” from the warmth of the cake and “slide” down the sides like wax on a burning candle. YUMMMMM!

Notes

This recipe should feed about 6-8 people...it’ll feed less if y’all are cuttin’ loose...it’ll feed more if y’all are on a diet.
There's a story behind the "Bananapapapple" name. Yes, it involves math, hot coals, and a 15%-er. It's a stupid story but I know you're asking, "what in tarnation is a Bananapapapple?" But, if you don't know what "tarnation" means, I'm sorry but we can't be friends. (I'M JOKING!...only a little).
*Mixing Your Icing Tip: Go with a Medium Bowl to Mix The Icing (1 ½ cups of powdered sugar “fluffs out” of the bowl when mixing...go deeper on your bowl selection).
If the Bananapapapple Cake turns out “too dry” for your pallet, add ¼ more oil to the recipe. Or, better yet, add that 2nd tablespoon of butter to the skillet when you are doing the “smearing.”
If you put this in the refrigerator, the icing will crust up a bit and get kinda crack-ly.
ENJOY!

Nutrition

Calories: 533kcalCarbohydrates: 73gProtein: 6gFat: 25gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 48mgSodium: 246mgPotassium: 173mgFiber: 2gSugar: 51gVitamin A: 168IUVitamin C: 7mgCalcium: 27mgIron: 2mg
Keyword Banana, Bananapapapple, Cake, Cast iron, desert, Icing, Nuts, pineapple, Recipe, Skillet, Walnuts
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!