Banana Power, Activate!

I made banana cake yesterday. And not just any banana cake. Banana cake for a birthday that was so good there are no pictures after the cake was cut. Banana cake that was so messy it forced me to clean my oven. Banana cake that was worth every second I had to spend with a can of Easy-Off Max and a roll of paper towels. Drool worthy banana cake. In fact, just sitting here thinking about it I wish I had more and it's probably a good thing I don't.

The recipe seemed harmless enough, but with a twist. The cake is baked on super low heat for about an hour. Then, once the cake is done baking you throw it hot out of the oven straight into your freezer. This step intrigued me, but it was like magic. It made the cake out of this world tasty and moist.

The only problem I had was that it made too much batter. There should have been a warning. I filled my two humble cake tins 3/4 full and found out that it was too much as batter was pouring forth from the pans all over the oven. I still had batter left over after my initial cakes were done baking and turning my oven smokey black. So I made cupcakes. Cupcakes that Dana and I had to eat straight out of the oven.

Do you see a pattern here? The cake was GOOD!


Banana Cream Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

The Cake:

2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 and 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 large bananas)
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 cups and 2 tablespoons sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups flour
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 and 1/2 cups buttermilk (or soured milk*)

-Preheat oven to 275 degrees.
-Grease and flour a 9x13 pan.
-In a small bowl mixed the mashed bananas with the lemon juice and set aside.
-In a medium bowl stir together the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.
-In a large bowl cream together the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy.
-Beat in the eggs one at a time and then mix in the vanilla.
-Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk.
-Stir in the banana mixture.
-Pour batter into prepared pan(s) and bake in a preheated oven for about one hour (may take longer depending on your oven) or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
-Remove pan from oven and place directly into the freezer for 45 minutes. This will make the cake very moist. Frost with cream cheese icing.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 and 1/2 cups powdered sugar

-Beat the butter and cream cheese until well mixed.
-Beat in vanilla.
-Beat in powdered sugar on low speed until combined, then on high speed until light and fluffy.