I’d made many banana breads and muffins before but I had never made banana cake, so I started looking for recipes. I noticed a lot of them mentioned cream cheese frosting. Really? I thought. Cream cheese frosting on a banana cake? Well, I was definitely going to try that! Any excuse to make cream cheese frosting is a good one.
So I used the fantabulous cream cheese frosting recipe from Bill’s Big Carrot Cake, with a few tweaks, and wow, that was one good cake! So if you have a few over ripe bananas, and you need an excuse to make cream cheese frosting, this cake is for you!
Banana Cake
Adapted from Allrecipes
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
4 ripe bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans.
In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg; set aside.
Cream together the butter and the sugar.
Add eggs one at a time, beating well in between each addition. Add bananas and vanilla extract; mix well. Add the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Pour batter into the prepared pans.
Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 30 minutes. Cool and frost cake.
Cream Cheese Frosting
Adapted from Baking From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan
4 ounces low-fat cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 stick ( 4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 pound or about 2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 to 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice or 1/4 teaspoon pure lemon extract
Finely chopped toasted pecans and toasted pecan halves
In a large bowl, working with your mixer of choice, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy. Gradually add the confectioner’s sugar and keep beating until the frosting is very smooth. Beat in the lemon juice or extract.
Frost the cake and decorate the sides with the chopped pecans and the top with the pecan halves.
20 comments:
Oh, wow, Lynne! That looks delicious! I TOTALLY agree with the cream cheese frosting. If it weren't so bad for me (and expensive to make), I'd have a bowl ever-ready to accept my waiting spoon :) Isn't this a coincidence-- I made a banana cake of my own with cream cheese frosting too, haha (for a future post) :)
This looks delicious! And I agree that you should always take advantage of a reason to make cream cheese frosting!
Speaking of coincidences with banana cakes - I made banana cake too recently, but it was the banana bundt cake from Dorie's book (it will post on Blake Bakes in the next day or so). I love cream cheese frosting, but that cake didn't even need anything - it was that good.
This cake looks sooo good too though! I love the pecans on it!
There must be something in the air...My 11 Y/O and I just made banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. He decided to top them with toasted coconut also,we all enjoyed them
gorgeous! i LOVE banana cake.
i usually use the recipe from the cake bible. and because banana and chocolate is, like, the BEST THING EVER, i frost with this sour cream hazelnut-chocolate ganache.
heavenly.
I really like that frosting too, goes so well with the gorgeous cake.
LyB, I have never tried cream cheese icing, can you believe it? And that, my friend, looks luscious. Too luscious not to try! And the cake is absolutely tender.
Bring on the cream cheese frosting! With some banana cake on the side of course! ;-)
I quite agree - any excuse for cream cheese frosting. What a delicious-looking banana cake.
i never have needed an excuse to make cream cheese frosting. i refuse to feel guilty for making it and slathering it on whatever i happen to have on hand...toast, stale cookies, cardboard. :) great recipe, gorgeous pictures!
Oh, I could cry. I am not eating sugar right now. Banana bread has always been a favorite of mine, and cream cheese frosting??? Stop it! It's pretty much the only frosting I like. As soon as I'm off this no sugar kick, I am SO making this. It looks delish!
pretty!!!!
Cream cheese makes everything taste great! And the banana cake looks amazing.
Oh Lynn, that cake looks fabulous!! I loved banana cake and may give this one a try!
Wow, does that look good! Banana cake and cream cheese frosting...dreamy!
That banana cake with cream cheese frosting looks so good!
That sounds amazing! I don't like banana bread even though I make it for the roommates but a banana cake with cream cheese icing sounds perfect! :)
Any excuse to make cream cheese frosting is a good one! I've got some bananas sitting on the counter that I'm just waiting for to turn black so I can bake with them!
Your cake looks so moist and delicious. I need a forkful of that cream cheese frosting too:D
I made this cake tonight, thanks to you! The cream cheese frosting is delicious.
http://flickr.com/photos/lipsss/3186238077
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