Friday, August 10, 2012

Banana Cake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting


Eating healthier means we always have bananas in my house, which sometimes means they get a bit overly ripe before we've had a chance to eat them. I'm one of those people who spends too much at the grocery store on fruit and veggies, thinking we'll eat them much faster than we sometimes do. And usually, this ends in such tragedies as ripe bananas being thrown away. (*gasp* I know! What am I thinking?!) Not this time though! I had recently seen a recipe for banana cake, which oddly made me cringe. If I've ever had banana cake in my life, I don't recall it. Banana bread: absolutely! But something about banana cake made me wonder if it could really be all that good. Maybe I was imaging flavored box cakes mixes - you know, that rarely taste as good as you imagine.

I set my judgement aside and decided to rescue my poor little overly ripe bananas. The recipe stated you could make this all in one bowl, which was another bonus. As much as I love my pink KitchenAid, sometimes I just don't feel like cleaning up the mess afterward. This mixed up by hand quite nicely, and once the cake was in the pan, I washed and re-used the bowl to make the frosting as well.
Since I don't have a stash of vanilla beans, or vanilla bean paste, I decided to use extract (which she states in the original recipe.) I also decided that since I didn't have any heavy cream, I would add in about 4 tablespoons of cream cheese (just the spreadable kind you'd use on bagels.) If you opt to go this route, you may not need but a tiny amount of milk, if any at all. I added probably 2 tablespoons of milk and the frosting was a bit too thin. And remember the icing packets that come with frozen Toaster Strudels? This frosting tasted exactly like that! It instantly took me back to the days when I used to buy them and would squish and squeeze every last little drop I could out of those icing packs (usually into my mouth!)

This is an incredibly delicious cake! I'm not sure why I ever thought banana cake sounded strange, but it's totally not! It tasted like banana bread with really yummy frosting on top. Since it had banana in it and the frosting was a bit thin, I kept mine in the fridge and man, it was even yummy while chilled (though I highly suggest sneaking a piece and putting a little frosting on it while it's still warm!) 

Banana Cake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
Recipe Source: ButterYum
Makes an 8x8-inch pan

Ingredients:
Banana Cake:
cup sugar
½ cup sour cream
1 egg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 mashed, very ripe bananas (about ¾ cup)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
¼ salt
½ teaspoon baking soda

Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3-4 tablespoons cream cheese
¼ cup milk - or less depending on desired consistency (optional)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup confectioners sugar

Directions:
To make the cake:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. (If using a glass pan, set to 350 degrees F.) Grease an 8x8-inch pan.
2. Cream together the sugar, sour cream, egg, and 2 tablespoons of butter. Add the mashed bananas and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
3. Stir together the flour, salt and baking soda. Add to the wet ingredients and mix well.
4. Pour batter into greased pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting:
1. Cream butter and confectioners sugar until smooth.
2. Add cream cheese and stir until smooth.
3. Slowly add the milk and vanilla extract, mixing until smooth.
4. Spread onto completely cooled cake.

2 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. It was incredibly delicious! Now I regret waiting so long to try banana cake! Hope you get a chance to make it!

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