This was delicious! After reading the reviews I did make a few changes. I didn't really want two 8" cakes so baked the recipe in a Bundt pan, sprayed with Baking Spray. I used a yellow cake mix that had pudding in the mix. I increased the amount of chopped pecans to a heaping 3/4 cup. Because of the Bundt pan's narrow bottom (top of cake)the butter/brown sugar mixture was fairly deep. I added 2-oz. bourbon and 2 of the bananas (mashed) to the batter. I sliced the remaining 2 bananas and layered them on the pecan mixture--it was a tight fit but I squeezed them in and only had 3 or 4 banana slices that sat on top of other bananas. I baked it until tester came out clean (I didn't push tester down into bananas)--about 55 minutes. I let the cake cool about 15 minutes then turned it out. Beautiful, aromatic, cake! The thicker pecan-butter mixture carmalized perfectly and completely covered the bananas...couldn't see them at all and if they turned dark, there was no way to tell. Tasted great!! I took a photo of the cake and meant to take another THREE days later when there was only one remaining piece, to show how well it lasted, but it got eaten before I had the chance! I liked the texture of the cake...because of the mashed bananas, it was denser than a typical yellow cake. I'll never fret about the extra, too ripe for me to eat, bananas again...thanks, Dana!

We used this recipe to made a wonderful ice cream cake for our Mother's birthday. It was a big hit...everyone agreed it was far superior to the expensive ice cream cake we purchased as a treat several years ago! Instead of chocolate chip cookies we used Amaretto cookies for a crust in a 9"-spring mold pan. We did not put cookies on the sides. For ice cream, after freezing the crust, we did a layer of chocolate brownie fudge and spread a layer of chocolate fondue sauce (leftover) on top of that. After freezing that, we then added a layer of old fashioned vanilla ice cream flavored with Amaretto and almond extract. We topped it with scoops of straight old fashioned vanilla. After the assembled cake was frozen solid (overnight) we transferred it to a chilled cake plate, drizzled more of the chocolate fondue sauce over the top and then finished the edge along the plate with Cool Whip (we were afraid whipped cream wouldn't hold up when frozen.) As much as I loved the flavor of the chocolate fondue sauce, it seemed chewy in the cake...I didn't mind the brownie chunks in the ice cream, so maybe if instead of spreading the sauce into a solid sheet between the ice cream layers, I drizzle it instead, it would be OK. The drizzle on the cake top was perfect. Delicious, gorgeous, cake!

The best recipe I've tried with my old cast iron lamb mold. It's a firm cake that holds up well. The only modifications I made were 1) I used Baker's Joy cooking spray to "grease & flour" the mold and 2) I flavored the batter with a couple of Tblsp. of finely grated lemon zest. Came out great --Grandma would be proud!