The Best Banana Cake - "In the WORLD"

"In the world!" I can just hear Jeremy Clarkson's voice on UK television show Top Gear echo these sentiments. He does it so well, although not in relation to food of course. But I like to think he would if he tried a slice of this banana cake. I know its a big call, but until I meet another banana cake which claims to be better than this one, this one takes the title.


It was Alex's birthday and I asked her what sort of cake she would like me to bake for her. Alex isn't a huge cake lover but she tells me she is partial to a good banana cake, and tells me it must have cream cheese frosting. With this in mind , I begin scouring the Internet searching for the ultimate banana cake recipe. 


Well, I think I may have found it. It comes with cream cheese frosting and its super moist which I think is partly due to the addition of buttermilk.Yum!


NB* The recipe states that the cake should bake for about 1hr. I actually found it needed about 1.5 hours and I use a fan forced electric oven. See how you go.Its definitely worth the wait.


The Best Banana Cake - "In The World"


From Food.com's Best Ever Banana Cake w/ Cream Cheese Frosting 

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups bananas, mashed, ripe
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 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
• 
  
• Frosting:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 1/2 cups icing sugar

Method

1. 1 Preheat oven to 275°F /135C.
2. 2 Grease and flour a 9 x 13 pan.
3. 3 In a small bowl, mix mashed banana with the lemon juice; set aside.

1. 4 In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
2. 5 In a large bowl, cream 3/4 cup butter and 2 1/8 cups sugar until light and fluffy.
3. 6 Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in 2 tsp vanilla.
4. 7 Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk.

Cake batter- yummo!

8 Stir in banana mixture

1. 9 Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for one hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

1. 10 Remove from oven and place directly into the freezer for 45 minutes. This will make the cake very moist.

1. 11 For the frosting, cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth.

1. 12 Beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla.

1. 13 Add icing sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high speed until frosting is smooth.

1. 14 Spread on cooled cake.

I cut the cake into three even layers and then sandwiched them together.

Layer upon layer of cream cheese frosting nom nom nom

1. 15 Sprinkle chopped walnuts over top of the frosting, if desired ( or hearts!).

The original recipe can be found here


Best enjoyed with an afternoon cup of tea or coffee.


Yum! xx