Banana Cake with Quick Caramel Frosting

...is cooking in The Ladybug Cafe. While this sounds delicious, it is actually FANTASTIC!! The frosting has a very intersting texture but tastes like pralines!

Cake
Solid vegetable shortening, for greasing the pans flour, for dusting the pans (I used Baker's Joy)
1 package plain yellow cake mix, (18.25 ounces) - I found only one mix in this size
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 medium-size ripe bananas, peeled & mashed (about one cup)
1 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons crème de banane liquer (optional) - I used this
1 cup pecans, chopped toasted (optional for topping frosting) - I didn't use nuts

Quick Caramel Frosting
8 tablespoons butter (one stick)
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/4 whole milk
2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions are here: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/recipe?id=6985307

Memorial Day

Thank you to all who serve and have served, particularly those who have made the ultimate sacrifice, to keep us free!

John 15: 13 (The Message)
Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love. Put your life on the line for your friends.

This just happened...

...in The Ladybug Cafe. So, after Master Chef Mom assembled a delightful breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon(cooked in the oven - my newest trick), and assorted fruits (grapes and mangoes), the Ladybug and Pots ate...everything but the eggs. I am confident that we could go through a pound of bacon a morning if I would allow it! Anyway, there was some resistance to eating eggs - understandable when they were accompanied by yummy fruit and BACON, but, nevertheless, eggs, as a quality source of protein, need to be eaten. After a brief battle over what constituted two more bites, I, of course, required the obligatory, "Thanks for the nice breakfast, Mom." To which I received..."thanks for the bacon and fruit!!"

Such is life in The Ladybug Cafe...