Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Yep, it's another banana cake post!  This one was not baked by me but by my husband instead. Guess I am not the only banana cake lover in the family.  This banana cake was so delicious that I ended up having to bring it to work with me so I would not keep eating it as if it was the last cake on earth.  The night before I brought it to work I was having some beef stew for dinner.  Instead of having a bowl full of stew I decided to have only half a bowl for dinner and a big slice of cake. After doing that I just thought "this is no good - the cake HAS to go!"  It was a big hit at work and didn't last long. He found this recipe at Evil Shenanigans.  It looks like I will have to be sharing my blog with my husband.  He has been cooking and baking so much lately and he is so good at it!  Better than me....so I think it will be fun to share his dishes too! 

1 cup mashed ripe bananas

1 cup buttermilk

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla

Frosting (my husband's recipe)

2 bars (8 oz each) cream cheese, soft
1 stick butter, soft
2 cups sifted powder sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla (coconut is good too)
coconut flakes (if desired on outside of cake)
chopped walnuts (if desired on top of cake)

Heat oven to 350 degrees F and prepare two 9" cake pans with non stick spray.

Peel your ripe bananas and mash them with a fork.  Pour the buttermilk into the bananas and mix well.  Set aside.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl and set aside.

In a bowl of a stand mixer (or large bowl with hand mixer) cream the butter and sugar until well combined and lighter in color.  Add the eggs one at a time and then the vanilla.  Mix well.  Add the dry ingredients and the banana mixture in three installments, starting and ending with the dry ingredients.

Divide the batter between the two prepared pans.  Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the cake springs back when lightly pressed and pulls away from the sides of the pan.  Allow the cakes to cool for 10 minutes in the pans, then turn out to cool completely on racks.

While the cake cools prepare the frosting by creaming the cream cheese with the butter, then adding the powdered sugar and vanilla. 

Fill and frost the cake, then chill for one hour before slicing. (Note:  this cake tastes better the next day.  Make sure to remove from refrigerator about one hour before eating since banana cake is heavy and tastes much better at room temperature.)