Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

It’s banana-ey, and it’s fluffy. And it’s topped with a glob of cream cheese frosting. Come on, doesn’t this cake have your name written all over it?

When you have a bunch of ripe bananas (don’t waste your time with bananas that are more yellow than black, my friends— when I made this cake, the bananas looked burned to a crisp), you must make this cake or cupcakes (or if you’re not in the mood for cream cheese icing [really?], consider making Banana Nut Bread instead).

Back to the cake. When to do a cake and when to do cupcakes? It’s one of life’s challenging questions, I know. A cake takes longer, which I always find annoying (waiting for something to finish in the oven- come on), and yet it’s easier to spread the frosting over. (There’s always pressure for frosted cupcakes to look so pretty, and what if you’re just not that type?) Cupcakes are more portable, though, so if you’re serving them at the office for a birthday thing, you can pop them into a tin and not have to take your massive cake transporter-container-minivan. Everyone finds cupcakes charming, so that’s always a win, but cake is also kind of homey when you’re a casual dinner party and you get to cut slices right at the table- like you’re sharing one big dish, without the group saliva. I’m no closer to an answer about what’s better, as it’s usually a game time decision for me. (In this case, I just wanted to use my cute new cupcake holders I ordered online. Sometimes it’s that simple.)

Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens’ recipe…

CAKE:

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoons salt

1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 3)

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup shortening

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

FROSTING:

1 8-ounce block of softened cream cheese (1 cup)
1/2 cup softened butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 teaspoon orange zest (optional)
3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar (more or less, depending on how you prefer the consistency)

GARNISH:

Chopped toasted walnuts (optional)
1. Preheat oven to 350° and grease and lightly flour two 8″ or 9″ round baking pans, one 13 x 9″ baking pan, or 12 large muffin/cupcake cups; set pan(s) aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a small bowl, mash bananas and add to dry ingredients along with buttermilk, shortening, and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until combined. Add eggs and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Pour batter into the prepared pan(s).
4. Bake in a 350° oven for 25 – 30 minutes for round pans, about 35 minutes for a 13 x 9″ pan, or about 15 – 18 minutes for cupcakes (or until a cake tester comes out just clean). Cool cake(s) in pans on wire racks for 10 minutes, and then turn out onto rack(s) to cool completely before frosting.
5. FROSTING: mix cream cheese, butter, vanilla and zest (if using) well, with beaters or a stand mixer. Add confectioners’ sugar, one cup at a time, beating until smooth (scraping sides of bowl after each addition of sugar); add sugar until you have reached your desired spreading consistency.
6. GARNISH (optional): toast 1/2 cup of walnuts in the oven for 8 minutes or so (until fragrant), and allow to cool. Place in a ziploc bag and use a crush (with a spoon or the bottom of a glass) until mostly powdered; sprinkle over cake or cupcakes.
Tips:
- Shortening, eh? Yes, this one is tricky for me. I am a big butter believer (Paula Deen and I have that in common), but shortening really works in this recipe. It gives it an undeniably lighter texture, and I can’t argue with that. I have been making this recipe for years and years, from the original Better Homes & Gardens cookbook that my Mom gave me (the version that refers to salad oil in a lot of recipes, which I still don’t know what is). Part of me is too nostalgic to stray from this recipe, and part of me is stubborn because I just tried a “new! incredible!” banana cake recipe and although it was new, it really wasn’t exciting. So I’m staying true to the old school here, and will continue to toy with butter-based recipes for the future. If I can replicate the taste & texture using butter in a banana cake, I’ll do it…
- No buttermilk on hand? You can always squeeze 1 1/2 teaspoons of lemon juice (or vinegar) into a measuring cup, then pour in enough milk to total the 3/4 cup. Stir and let sit/thicken for 5 minutes.
- Chocoholic options: you could always garnish with chocolate chips, &/or add 3/4 cup of mini chocolate chips to the batter. You really can’t stay away from the chocolate, can you?
- Freeze this cake- it thaws nicely in the fridge- even the icing. Nice!
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April 15th, 2012 | More Sweets Please | 3 Comments | Tags: Bananas, Cakes, Icing

3 Responses and Counting...

dottie 04.15.2012

Banana cake was a HUGE success for whole family. It was so good, I served it plain with out the frosting. Nice one!
dottie

great for the whole family- frosting not even needed!
More Sweets Please

SO glad it was a hit- and I’m shocked that you think the frosting wasn’t needed (only because I think frosting is needed on just about everything- even cereal). Thank you for the comment :)