Coconut Walnut Banana Cream Cheese Cake

Cake

Before beginning, make sure all ingredients are room temperature except the buttermilk that you want to be ice cold. With an electric beater, cream the margarine and shortening. Add sugar and beat until mixture is smooth. Add egg yolks and beat well. Combine flour and soda and add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk. Stir in vanilla. Add coconut and nuts. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites*.

*Add 1/2 teaspoon of sugar and 1/4 teaspoon of salt to egg whites. This helps stabilize the peaks.

Pour into 3 greased and floured (8 inch) pans or two (9 inch) pans. Bake at 350 degrees until done, approximately 25 minutes. Cool. Cover with icing. Add carmelized bananas between layers.

Cream cheese filling

Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add 1/2 lb of sugar and mix well. (Add more sugar according to your taste.) Add vanilla and nuts and beat until smooth. Spread on cake and sprinkle with nuts. This will keep in refrigerator for days.

Carmelized Bananas

Heat butter and sugar ina pan until soft ball (180 degrees and clear). As carmel starts to form from clear toward brown on outer edges of the pan, add bananas. Don't let the bananas get too brown as the goal is to have them cooked as white as possible. Cook on high heat and reduce enough that bananas do not disintegrate. Remove from heat completely when bananas are cooked but still firm enough to hold shape. Let cool.

Roast walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 and put into oven. Check on them every two minutes because they burn very easily.