Ingredients

Cake:

• 1 (20-ounce) cans crushed pineapple in juice
• 3 cups (15 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups (14-ounces) granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 very ripe large bananas, peeled and mashed (2 cups)
• 1 1/2 cups pecans, toasted and chopped
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Frosting:

• 4 sticks  unsalted butter, softened
• 16 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 4 (8-ounce) bricks cream cheese, chilled and each cut into 20 equal pieces

Directions

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 F. Grease 2 light-colored 9-inch round cake pans, line with parchment paper, grease parchment, and flour pans. Drain pineapple in fine-mesh strainer set over bowl, pressing to remove juice. Pour juice into small saucepan and cook over medium heat until reduced to 1/3 cup, about 5 minutes; set aside, Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together in bowl. Whisk sugar and eggs together in separate large bowl; whisk in oil. Stir in bananas, pecans, vanilla, drained pineapple, and reduced pineapple juice. Stir in flour mixture until just combined. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans and smooth tops with rubber spatula. Bake until dark golden brown on top and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking. Let cakes cool in pans on wire rack for 20 minutes. Remove cakes from pans, discarding parchment, and let cool completely on rack, about 2 hours.
2. To make the frosting, using stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt together on low speed until smooth; continue to mix for 2 minutes, scraping down bowl as needed. Increase speed to medium-low, add cream cheese 1 piece at a time, and mix until smooth; continue to mix for 2 minutes.  If you have a small mixing bowl, you can split it into 2 batches
3. Put a little smear of frosting on a cake stand to hold the cake down. Place 1 cake layer on cake stand, and put some strips of waxed paper under the edges to keep your cake stand from getting frosting all over it.  For the center filling, frost the cake with about a 1/2 inch thick and put the top layer on.   Apply a thin coat of frosting over the surface of the cake.
4. To make flowers, use a large star tip like a Wilton 1M and make overlapping swirls starting at the bottom.   Or, just frost with remaining frosting.