Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting!

A lot of you might be thinking that I was kidnapped and forced away from a computer but the truth is that I was having a hard time deciding which recipes to post... and to be completely honest time has definitely gotten away again.  Anyways the blog must go on... to rephrase the famous saying.  On to the recipe... A lot of people have heard of the wonderful combination of carrot cake with cream cheese frosting!  So when we see banana cake with cream cheese frosting, hopefully we all should be thinking that it's either an interesting and worth trying, or that it sounds like a wonderful idea... Just so you guys know, I have felt both of these things... Before I go any further, Paula Deen came up with this original recipe, but I added something to it.  When first trying the original recipe, found the cake to have a really great flavor but the cake was dense and I was determined to find the solution.  Thankfully the solution was easy to find.  I am going to answer a question that I think a lot of people have asked and no one has answered.  First I am going to get you guys the original recipe.

Banana Cake
3 Cups All Purpose Flour
2 Cups Granulated Sugar
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Salt
3 Eggs, beaten
3/4 Cup Vegetable Oil
1 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Chopped Walnuts
4 Ripe Bananas Mashed
*1 Cup Buttermilk

*-my addition

Like I said before, when I tried this cake recipe, the cake was dense; but upon looking over the recipe, I noticed one big thing...  The leavening agent was not used to its full potential.  Both Baking Soda/Powder do two things: help the baked product to rise, and lighten the texture of the baked product.  You are now going to learn the difference between baking soda and baking powder.  Baking Soda is another name of bicarbonate of soda, and you chemistry nerds know exactly what that is used for... one of the things is for the lava in the paper mache volcanoes... Sorry a little blast from the past, but they also are used to remove stains from anything... If you don't believe me about that, just ask your Grandma!  In order for baking soda to be used as a leavening agent it requires two things: acid and liquid in order to be activated.  Baking Power is bicarbonate of soda with an added powdered acid (most likely cream of tarter) which you probably know you add to meringues to help strengthen the integrity of the meringue.

When I looked at the recipe after I made it for the first time, I realized the ingredients were missing a very important thing... an acid, because not only did the cake need to be lightened but also needed a little bit more moisture.  So I added 1 Cup of buttermilk which, despite the name, is low in fat.  This lone addition made a huge difference.  Instead of being more dense than banana bread, it was now light and moist like a cake should be.  Oh, you should know, that if you do not use buttermilk on a regular basis that there is a substitute... (1 tbls. Lemon Juice to 1 Cup of milk)  Now for the Cream Cheese Frosting...  It is always better to make your own because its easy and much more flavorful and fresh than anything from the can.  Here's the recipe:

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 8 oz. Package Cream Cheese, room temperature
1 Stick Butter, room temperature
1 pound Powdered Sugar
1 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract
Pinch of Salt

For the Cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix/Sift together the Flour, Sugar, Baking Soda, Salt, and Cinnamon together.  Cream together the Eggs, Buttermilk, Vegetable Oil, and Vanilla Extract.  Mix together the wet and dry ingredients together until combined, and then add bananas and walnuts, of course if you don't like the nuts, or you are allergic to them, you can leave them out.  In fact if you are allergic to the walnuts then it is highly recommended that you leave them out.   But another substitute for the walnuts is chocolate chips!  And how could you go wrong with chocolate!!!  Unless you are allergic.  Anyways, for the frosting: cream together the cream cheese and the butter, which is much easier to do when these two ingredients are at room temperature.  Slowly add the powdered sugar in increments so your electric mixer doesn't throw the sugar all over you and the kitchen... Trust  me, from personal experiences you don't want to clean up that kind of mess.  Note the frosting will be creamier if you sift the powdered sugar, but it is not a necessary step, then you add the pinch of salt and the vanilla extract and cream once more... the salt helps to take away some of the sweetness of the frosting and helps to bring out the other flavors in the frosting.  Here is the final look on the cupcakes I recently baked!

I hope you enjoy these recipes and I am so glad that you took the time to read this and I hope to post again soon with another treasured recipe.  Until next time.