Straw-Nana Monkey Cake

By Jammie Gogel
@bakingqueen22

If most of my friends on here haven't noticed I love using cream cheese with a lot of my cake recipes. That's because it adds such a creamy yummy flavor to almost everything including regular foods. However, I just love strawberry & banana flavors together... which is why I make this one! Enjoy!

Rating:

★★★★★ 4 votes

Comments:

30 Comments

Serves:

12-16

Prep:

20 Min

Cook:

30 Min

Method:

Bake

Blue Ribbon Recipe

Notes from the Test Kitchen:
Moist and creamy is a great description for this cake. Your family is going to love this one. And it couldn't be any easier to whip up!

Ingredients

1 box: duncan hines strawberry cake mix
3 large: eggs
1/3 c: canola oil or vegetable oil
1 c: water
2 box: banana instant pudding mix (jello brand small box)
1 box: strawberry creme instant pudding mix (jello brand small box)
2 pkg: cool whip
2 tsp: pure vanilla extract
2 c: 2% milk
2 pkg: Philadelphia cream cheese. 8 oz
dash(es): pink sugar sprinkles

How to Make Straw-Nana Monkey Cake

Step-by-Step

1Preheat oven to 325* for coated or dark pans 9 x 13 or 350* for glass or pans not coated. Spray or use butter to coat pan & sprinkle flour, sift remaining powder in trash, set pan aside.
2Mix cake mix according to box with the following ingredients: eggs, water, & oil. Once Blended add 1 box of strawberry creme pudding mix, blend until smooth.
3Bake in oven for 26-29 minutes according to box. While that's baking, mix 1 cream cheese (blends best at room temp.), 1/2 cup milk, & 1 tsp vanilla until smooth. Then add 1 box of banana pudding mix and another 1/2 cup of milk, blending well... then lastly blend 1 whole tub of Cool Whip to the mix and refrigerate until needed for filling.
4REPEAT step 3 for the second bowl of filling. Using the remaining cream cheese, vanilla, milk, banana pudding mix, & Cool Whip. Refrigerate when done.
5When the cake is cool... Use a frosting spatula to slip around the outer edging of the cake to make sure its not sticking to the pan. Then take a cookie sheet, place on top of cake, hold tightly together and flip quickly, set flat on table, tap the bottom of cake pan a few times, lift cake pan off the now upside down cake, take a cake knife or any long knife and cut evenly down the center splitting the cake into 2 sections. Once separated flip and place the bottom half of the cake back in the pan or on a tray.
6Remove the first bowl of banana filling from fridge, stir a few times to make it easier to spread on the bottom layer of the cake... once all of the first bowl of banana filling has been spooned on the bottom layer of the cake... smooth over to make it evenly across the entire cake, then flip and place the top half of the cake back on the bottom.
7Lastly, take the remaining banana filling from the fridge, stir so it will spread easier. Finally, frost the top layer of the cake. Ready to serve, Enjoy! (Add pink sprinkles if you like!)