They were well freckled. I don't know about you, but I am not overly fond of eating really ripe bananas as they are. I am also not fond of under ripe bananas. In order for me to enjoy a raw banana, it has to be just so.
When I was a child I wouldn't eat them at all. I had heard about big spiders living in them on the banana trees and I had some crazy idea in my head that the little brown specks in their centres were spider eggs. I know! Kids! Crazy!
Her daughter Crystal had baked the cake and recommended it to us. I always admit to being a bit dubious when someone calls their recipe the best ever, but I suppose it is all relative to taste. One man's meat being another man's poison after all.
I have corrected them in the recipe for you below. Those are the only adaptations I made to her recipe, and I pretty much made it exactly as per hers in every other way.
The smell when this was baking was pretty A M A Z I N G! I seriously was drooling the whole time. It smelled sweet and very banana-like! I could hardly wait to dig in.
Otherwise I would leave it out altogether. With two teaspoons of vanilla in the batter, it probably overpowers the cinnamon, so you really need to amp it up a bit if you want to taste it.
The use of buttermilk helps to insure that it is moist as does the use of brown sugar. She suggested either dark or light soft brown sugar. I used light.
I cut the quantities for the icing in half as I knew we would only be frosting the top of the cake. This was a smart decision and allowed for plenty of icing. Any more than what I made would have been too much.
I have also shown you the adapted bake times, etc. in the Notes for the recipe.
I think this would be lovely with the addition of toasted walnuts or chocolate chips, or both. I was very tempted to sprinkle some toasted walnuts over the top of the finished cake, but it wasn't my cake!
As you can see, it cuts beautifully into nice squares and the texture is spot on. This is everything that you would expect in a good banana cake. It has a lovely texture and a "spot on" banana flavor without having to use any kind of banana extract.
I confess that I am not overly fond of anything using an artificial banana flavor. If you can do it with real flavours, that's perfect to me.
If you are looking for a great family style Banana cake, a wonderful snacking cake, well flavoured, dense and not overly sweet look no further. This is your cake.
Best Banana Cake
Ingredients
- 3 large ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
- 3 cups (420g) all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 3/4 cup (180g) lightly salted butter, softened
- 1 cup (195g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) soft light brown sugar, packed
- 3 large free range eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 tsp pure vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups (360ml) dairy buttermilk
- 4 ounces (110g) of cream cheese
- 1/2 cup (120g) butter
- 1 tsp pure vanilla
- 2 cups (260g) icing sugar, sifted
- pinch of salt
- 1 TBS milk or cream (may or may not be needed)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/gas mark 4. Butter a 9 X 13 inch baking dish with butter and dust the bottom only with flour.
- Sift together all of the dry ingredients for the cake. Set aside.
- Cream together the butter for the cake and both sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and then the eggs a little at a time until thoroughly incorporated. Beat in the mashed bananas.
- Add the flour mixture, alternately with the buttermilk, making three dry and two wet additions. Try not to overbeat it. A few lumps are quite acceptable.
- Pour into the prepared baking dish.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 45 to 50 minutes, until well risen and the top springs back when lightly touched. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.
- Allow to cool completely in the pan.
- To make the icing beat together all of the ingredients until smooth and creamy, only adding milk as necessary to give you the proper consistency.
- Spread the frosting over the cooled cake, swirling the top a bit. Cut into squares to serve.
Notes:
You may bake this as a layer cake if you wish, but double the recipe ingredients. Two 9-inch round pans, 26 to 30 minutes.
You may also bake this in a Bundt tin, 10 to 12 cup tin, 50 to 65 minutes.
Can also be baked as cupcakes. Makes two dozen, bake for 20 - 22 minutes.
Did you make this recipe?
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