Taste

Banana Cake

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups ripe bananas, mashed REALLY WELL…no lumps!
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 3 cups flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup butter, softened
- 2 1/8 cups sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Icing
- 3/4 cup butter, softened
- 225g cream cheese, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla

- ~3 1/2 – 4 cups icing sugar

Method

Preheat oven to 150°.
Grease and flour two 9-inch round pans. (note: I actually had some leftover batter – you want to fill the pans up about halfway – the cake grows when cooking)
In a small bowl, mix mashed banana with the lemon juice; set aside.
In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
In a large bowl, cream 3/4 cup butter and 2 1/8 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in 2 tsp vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Stir in banana mixture.
Pour batter into prepared pan(s) and bake in preheated oven for about 45 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and cakes are lightly browned.
Remove from oven and place directly into the freezer for 45 minutes. (note: if you are making two rounds, let them cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, pop them out of the pan onto cooling racks, THEN put in the freezer. The original recipe claims this immediate freezing step will make the cake very moist…I also like doing this because then my cake is ready to be iced more quickly.)
For the icing, cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add icing sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high speed until frosting is smooth. (note: the recipe calls for 3 1/2 cups of icing sugar…I used a bit more butter and I didn’t measure the sugar as I added it – just kept adding until it was the right consistency.) Spread on cooled cake.