It is a given that birthdays require cake. I have placed it upon myself to become resident birthday cake maker for the ladies of The Chic.
For me, there are few things better than helping bring happiness and joy to special occasions. Be it birthdays, weddings, or graduations, a cake is in order. I thrive off the smiles that result from something I’ve created. Sure, it may just be a cake, but its a cake that made people happy.
Last Thursday was Rachel’s birthday and we celebrated with this cake at Chic HQ!
Rachel requested a banana cake with cream cheese frosting. If you like banana bread, say hello to the best cake ever!
It’s an amazingly tasty alternative to banana bread. Unlike most cakes, this banana cake is pretty dense and jam packed with flavor. While this cake is great on its own, I opted to split the cake into multiple layers so I could incorporate as much brown sugar cream cheese goodness as possible. The addition of brown sugar in the cream cheese frosting helps to heighten the banana flavors.
This cake doesn’t need much decoration. I topped it with caramelized bananas because they provide a wonderful crunch and element of surprise to the soft cake. (It also helps when portioning out the cake for serving. One banana per slice.) I was shocked by how great it turned out.
Feigning for something richer? Try adding a handful of chocolate chips in the cake batter. Better yet, don’t forget to sprinkle chocolate chips all over the top layer.
Banana Cake, makes 2 x 9” cakes
Ingredients
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 ripe bananas, mashed
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
1/3 cup sour cream, room temperature
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line the bottom of two 9-inch cake pans with parchment paper. Lightly grease pan with nonstick baking spray or butter. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and brown sugar and mix until creamy. Add eggs one at a time and mix until incorporated.
3. Add vanilla and mashed bananas. Mix until combined.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
5. In another bowl, mix together butter and sour cream. It will be chunky, that’s okay.
6. Add 1/3 of the dry mixture to the mixing bowl, following by half of buttermilk mixture. Repeat and end with remaining 1/3 of dry mixture. Mix until flour is incorporated into batter.
7. Divide batter evenly between the two prepared cake pans. Smooth out and level the batter using a mini offset spatula, or the back of a spoon.
8. Bake for 35-45 minutes, rotating pan halfway thru baking. Insert toothpick in center of cake to check from doneness. Toothpick should come out clean. Otherwise, bake for another 5-10 minutes or so.
9. Let cake cool in pan for 5 minutes. Then loosen edges to cake with an offset spatula or knife. Remove cake from pan and let cool to room temperature on wire rack.
Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
2- 8 oz packages cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar), sifted
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
Instructions
1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream cream cheese until smooth. Add butter and continue to mix. Scrape down bowl as needed to ensure thorough mixing.
2. Add brown sugar and mix until incorporated. Add sifted confectioners’ sugar in three additions while mixing on low speed. Add salt and mix until frosting is smooth. Set aside until ready to frost cake.
Cake Assembly
Tools and additional ingredients
1 ripe banana
granulated sugar, as needed
offset spatula
cookie scoop
Instructions
1. Once cake has cooled to room temperature, slice each cake into two even layers.
2. Place one cake round on cake board. Spread an even layer of about 1/2 cup of cream cheese frosting on cake. (I like to use a cookie scoop to measure the frosting- about 3 scoops.) Top with another cake layer and repeat.
3. Chill cake in the fridge until ready to serve. Before serving cake, slice a banana into desired thickness. Place banana slices on a baking sheet. Sprinkle sugar over the tops of the banana. Using a kitchen torch, caramelize sugar until crunchy. Alternatively, place bananas in oven under broiler setting for 30 seconds or so, until sugar caramelizes. Place bananas on cake as desired.
