Recipe: Mary’s Banana Cake

This recipe evolved as my mom and I made it together.  I had three overripe bananas in my fridge and I wanted to use them up.  She had come over one afternoon in December to say “hello” and offered to help.  Or did I ask her if she wanted to?  Anyway, we got it made.  :-)  I actually started out with a recipe from somewhere else, but I changed it so much that I’ve decided to change the name too.

This makes a heavier cake due to the ingredients, but it makes a very nice snack cake or dessert.  (Truth: My family had it with brunch one morning. [grin]   What's the point in being grown up if you can't decide to have cake for breakfast?)

Mary's Banana Cake

Whisk together in a medium bowl:
1 1/2 C. all-purpose flour
1 C. white whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder

Cream together in a large bowl:
1 C. brown sugar
1 C. butter
1/2 C. sour cream
1/4 C. milk
3 eggs

Add dry ingredients to this and mix well.
Beat in:
3 medium bananas, mashed (should make 1 heaping cup)
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Stir in:
1 C. chocolate chips
(You may add 1/2 C. of chopped nuts if you wish.)

Line the bottom of a 9x13 cake pan with parchment paper and grease the sides well.  Pour in batter and bake at 350F (175C) for 30-40 minutes or till a golden brown color around the edges and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the middle.
Completely cool.

Frosting

Whip together till light and fluffy and spread on cake:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
3 Tbl. butter, softened
1 2/3 C. powdered sugar
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

I did not freeze any of this cake, so I don’t know how it does in the freezer.  I would imagine that it would freeze well as most cakes tend to do, but due to its heavy consistency it would probably be better fully thawed before using.



The color in this picture isn’t very good, but I thought it was interesting to see the swirls of banana in the cake.  It would make a good snack cake without the frosting too, if you prefer.  Yes, I did take out a slice before frosting it because this was an experiment and I wanted to see how it was right away. :-)



We got this enamel plate at an old fashioned “five and dime” store in Fredericksburg, Texas where we went for a little vacation in October.  The enamelware was a bit pricey, so I opted to get one dessert/salad size plate just for this purpose – photographing food for the web page. :-)  Isn’t it pretty?  I love the color!