Our Favorite Treat: Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
This is, hands down, the MOST requested cake in our household. I cannot BELIEVE I’ve been remiss in posting the recipe! Every few posts, I include something food related because - well, great food is a BIG part of living well and EVERYONE should be able to make and/or serve great food!
I’m a discerning but relatively lazy cook, so I’ll always include tips and tricks to get the best result with the least effort!
Banana cake has been the birthday cake request of choice from both my kids for all of their school years…I even sent it frozen in an assemble-your-own package to my daughter away at college one year!
I’ve made variations a zillion times too…banana cupcakes and banana mini cupcakes are a must-have addition to most meetings or afternoon tea, or just as snacking cakelets to keep on hand.
We quite often have the mini’s all frosted and ready to go in the freezer.
By the way, PRO TIP: frozen is a great way to transport cakes without having to worry so much about the frosting getting smudged en-route, and the mini’s defrost quickly so are usually ready to eat by the time they are plated and served wherever we took them!
The key ingredient in our iconic banana cake recipe is, of course, overripe bananas - the more overripe, the sweeter.
I am always stashing bananas in the freezer, peel and all, as soon as they get too brown to be appealing and preferably before they start to attract a horde of fruit flies! So, we almost always have bananas on hand. To use the saved frozen bananas in this recipe, I pop them in the microwave for a minute so they defrost enough to peel, and then mash them.
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With the enticing fruit displays at the farm stand this time of year, it is easy to overbuy, but the extra bananas are NEVER wasted!!
This recipe makes a wonderful cake of course, but without the frosting, it totally works as a muffin as well. My daughter used to keep these in the freezer in her grad school apartment to grab on the way out the door to have something on hand to go with coffee during her busy schooldays.
The recipe is adapted from one in my beloved Silver Palate Cookbook. They call for two layers and cut them in half horizontally to make 4 layers. I find that the layers are so thin they are difficult to cut well and leave a too large frosting to cake ratio (I can’t believe I am saying this, as too much frosting is rarely a bad thing for my #sugarhound taste!). So I make a 1.5 X version of the recipe and bake 3 layers when I make this as a cake.
For standard cupcakes, a single recipe make about 2 dozen and for mini’s, which is the most common way we use this, it makes 4 dozen.
The frosting recipe makes juuuuuust enough to generously frost the 4 dozen mini’s, but I always double it for the cake. Leftover cream cheese frosting freezes too - it just needs to be defrosted and beat again for use, so having leftovers is never a bad thing!
Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Serve 12
NOTE: the amounts in parentheses are alternates for a 1.5 X version of the recipe which I use to make 3 layers for this cake
Ingredients
1/2 (or 3/4) lb unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 (or 1 1/2) cup granulated sugar
2 (or 3) large eggs
1 (or 1 1/2) cup mashed ripe bananas (around 2 or 3 bananas for one cup)
1 3/4 (or scant 2 2/3) cup all purpose flour
1/2 (or 3/4) tsp salt
2/3 (or 1) tsp baking soda
5 (or 7 1/2) Tbsp buttermilk
1 (or 1 1/2) tsp vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe below)
2 firm ripe bananas, sliced
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts, toasted (optional garnish)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350º
Grease and flour 2 (or 3) 9” cake pans (lined with parchment rounds will make it easier to get the cake out cleanly)
Beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition
Add mashed bananas and beat well
Sift together flour, salt, and baking soda and add to butter mixture, mixing until flour is completely incorporated
Add buttermilk and vanilla and beat again for 1 minute
Divide batter evenly between prepared pans
Bake on middle rack 25-30 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean
Cool in pans on rack for 10 minutes, then turn out layers and cool completely
Assemble layers topping each layer with frosting and sliced bananas before adding the next layer. Do not add bananas to the top of the cake as they will discolor and look unappetizing from exposure to air. Frost the top and sides of the cake. Optionally, press the walnuts into the sides of the cake to garnish.
I almost always frost the sides in a basket weave pattern - it is pretty, looks impressively fancy, and is really quite easy to do. We stack the cake on a cardboard cake round to make it easy to move, and use these disposable piping bags with a plain tip and a ridged tip and this turntable to make the whole process easier. This quick video shows the basics…
Modified Directions for mini cupcakes
Spray 48 mini muffin cups and one #40 cookie scoop with nonstick spray. Add one scoop of prepared batter to each muffin cup. Bake 15-18 minutes. Cool in pans 10 minutes, then remove to rack to cool completely. Top with a swirl of cream cheese frosting. Garnish with a sprinkle of crystal baking sugar or a drizzle of caramel for a decadent finish.
Frosted cupcakes can be frozen in airtight containers for 2 months (or maybe longer…we’ll never know! 😂)
Cream Cheese Frosting
One recipe frosts 48 mini cupcakes
NOTE: I double this recipe to frost a cake
Ingredients
1/4 lb unsalted butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese softened
2+ cups confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Directions
Beat together cream cheese and butter.
Add confectioners sugar and beat thoroughly (you can add more confectioners sugar to expand the recipe and make a slightly stiffer frosting, but the more sugar, the sweeter the frosting and the less the cream cheese flavor comes through)
Beat in the vanilla
Any leftover frosting can be stored in the fridge for up to a week and in the freezer for 3 months or more. Return to room temperature and beat again for best results.
We use these disposable piping bags and a large star tip for a super fast way to frost the cupcakes. Our favorite premade caramel sauce is from Stonewall Kitchen - melt a few spoonfuls in the microwave in a squeeze bottle or piping bag to drizzle.
Enjoy!
Other posts you might like:
Raspberry Almond Celebration Cake