Best Ever Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This is a very interesting recipe for a banana cake and an excellent one. I found this at the Repressed Pastry Chef's food blog. The direct link to the recipe is on Recipezaar, where it received 5 stars and hundreds of excellent reviews. This cake has a trick to it. You bake it at 275F for one hour and then put it straight into the freezer for 45 minutes. Yes, you read this correctly. They say that putting it straight from the oven into the freezer is the secret of getting it very moist. It baked in my oven for 1 1/2 hours at 275F and I did freeze it for 45 minutes. I let it sit out then for about a half hour and frosted it. It is fabulous. I brought it into work and everyone raved about it and so did my husband. Give this a try if you like banana cake. It will NOT disappoint, plus it's fun to try recipes that are different. That is what attracted me to this cake and of course the hundreds of positive reviews. I've also found that banana cake, like banana bread is best eaten the next day........

1 1/2 cups bananas, mashed (very 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 (I used whole milk with 1 tablespoon lemon juice)

Frosting

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 1/2 cups icing sugar

Garnish

chopped walnuts (I used chocolate sprinkles)

Preheat oven to 275F degrees. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 pan. In a small bowl mash bananas with the lemon juice and set aside. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda 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 teaspoons vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Stir in the banana mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for one hour or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place directly in freezer for 45 minutes. This will make the cake very moist.

For the frosting, cream butter and cream cheese until smooth. Beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla and add icing sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high speed until smooth. Spread on cooled cake and top with walnuts (or sprinkles), if desired.