According to my family there are only three types of cake: Chocolate Cake, Swedish Birthday Cake and Banana Cake.
The most popular cake in our house is Banana Cake – by a long shot!
I love to bake, and normally I love variety…but here – Banana it is. In our neck of the woods there’s a local bakery, Icing on the Cake, that makes the most amazing treats. For years my family would insist on buying a banana cake for any and every celebration we had. As someone who loves to bake, this got a bit old. Sure they do make an AMAZING cake, but so do I – and I wanted the opportunity to practice my skills. Challenge accepted!
Necessity is the mother of invention, right?
If I was going to be able to create baking-related traditions in our household, I was simply going to have to be able to come up with a worthy banana cake with cream cheese icing of my own. This recipe is the result of much trial and error behind the effort to replicate the famous banana cake from Icing on the Cake. My family approves. They say that they actually like mine better. [I don’t know if I believe it.] If you are a local, do your own taste test and compare the two. If not, make your own so that you can have a taste of our town’s favorite cake. [For those who have moved away, you can thank me later.]
Enjoy! If this cake doesn’t scream ‘celebration’ or ‘special occasion’, I don’t know what does.
What about Chocolate Cake and Swedish Birthday Cake, you say?
Not to worry, these two cakes are also in the queue. Sign up for our emails so that you don’t miss them. I’m planning on making Chocolate Cake (with mocha frosting) for MY birthday this year. (Coming up soon…)
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Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
A wonderful change of pace from traditional Chocolate, Yellow or White cakes. This delicious cake is great for any occasion be it a picnic or a birthday!
Ingredients
Banana Cake
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 medium bananas ripe to very ripe, peeled
- 1 cup sour cream
- 3 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 cup butter (2 sticks)
- 2 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 24 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 1 cup butter (2 sticks) room temperature
- 4 tsp vanilla
- 8 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
Banana Cake
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Position rack in the center of the oven. Preheat to 350 degrees.
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Grease and flour two cake pans (9" diameter)
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Whisk dry ingredients together in a medium bowl (flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt). Set aside.
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Mash bananas in another bowl. [I use a flat bottomed bowl and a potato masher.] Add sour cream and vanilla to mashed bananas. Mix well. Set aside.
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Beat sugar and butter together in a large bowl using an electric mixer. Beat for at least 3 minutes. Add egg and egg yolk. Continue beating until well blended.
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Add the dry ingredients and the banana mixture into the sugar, butter and egg mixture. ALTERNATE the addition of the dry and wet ingredients, starting with the dry and ending with the dry. Stir after each addition until the added ingredients are just combined.
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Divide batter between the two cake pans. [Pro tip: If you have a kitchen scale, weigh the each of the pans to ensure that the batter is divided evenly.]
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Bake 25-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. All the cake to cool completely on a rack before icing.
Cream Cheese Frosting
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Beat the cream cheese, butter and vanilla together using an electric mixer.
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Add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time. Beat until smooth after each addition.
Recipe Notes
This makes a ton of frosting. I used probably only 75% of it for the cake in the photos. [The nutritional information was calculated assuming that all of the frosting was used.]
Pro tip: Are your bananas too green? Ripen them in the oven. Five minutes at 350 degrees blackens them right up.
There are a few tools that can make this job easier - and the decorating more fun!
