Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

My dad’s 83rd Birthday was approaching and this was an opportunity to make him a birthday cake.  His favorite cake is Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting.  What’s not to like.  The bananas make the cake always come out moist. Cream cheese frosting is so easy – 3 or 4 ingredients and so good.  It’s hard not to eat it out of the bowl.

 

 

As an aside, the weather has been so cold here in Chicago, and all over this Country for that matter, that I didn’t get to serve my father the cake.  We cancelled the dinner because of severe cold and snow.  I delivered some of the cake.  We planned a rain check.  This past weekend was supposed to be the rain check.  I made another cake (that’s another post) but we had to cancel again because my dad ended up in the hospital.  He got a pacemaker and he is already home, thank god.  Life is fragile.  So appreciate every moment.

 

INGREDIENTS

CAKE

• 1/2 lb. (2 sticks) sweet butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 mashed overripe bananas
• 1 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2/3 tsp baking soda
• 5 tbsp buttermilk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe below)

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

• 8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
• 6 tbsp sweet butter, at room temperature
• 3 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• juice of 1/2 lemon (optional)

Directions:

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Cream together cream cheese and butter in a mixing bowl.  Slowly sift in confectioners’ sugar and continue beating until fully incorporated.  Mixture should be free of lumps.  Stir in vanilla and lemon juice.  My mixture was too runny.  So I kept adding more confectioners sugar a couple of tbsp at a time until I had the desired consistency.

CAKE

Preheat oven to 350°.  Use cooking spray on two 9-inch layer cake pans.  In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy 3 – 4 minutes.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Mash banana in bowl.  Then, add mashed bananas to the mixing bowl and mix thoroughly.  Sift dry ingredients and add to butter and egg mixture.  Add it 1/3 at a time.  Finally, mix until the flour has been fully incorporated.  Add the buttermilk and the vanilla.  Mix for 1 minute.  Pour batter into the prepared pans.  Set on the middle rack of the oven and bake 23 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Cool in pans on a rack for 10 minutes. Take the cakes out of mold and cool on rack for 2 hours ( I cooled mine overnight before frosting).  When cooled, place one layer on a serving plate and frost with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Cover the second layer and frost the top of the cake (you can also frost the sides too if you wish).

 

Serve and enjoy!