Salted Caramel "Ding Dong" Cake

Life just gets away from you sometimes. Things have just been so busy and unfortunately that meant that I didn't even post once in March. I've still been cooking and baking plenty but the drive to photograph and write up anything just wasn't there.

Banana Cream Pie with Salted Caramel

Had enough of this healthy streak? I felt like I needed to show that I wasn't eating just healthy food now and it was the Super Bowl game last week so I wanted to make a fun dessert. I've always been a fan of cream pies but they're always pretty simple and one dimensional.

This Banana cream pie defies all that I had previously thought. The homemade vanilla pastry cream is rich and smooth and the shortbread crust is divine. The ground peanuts are baked right into the crust and are the perfect compliment to the fresh bananas layered between the pastry cream.  Then to top it all off, literally, a salted caramel sauce is drizzled over the top. It's fresh and complex and could easily be eaten in one sitting.