This is an amazing recipe that I made a few months back when I had an abundance of deliciously overripe bananas. I used to think that the only banana cake I’d ever make would be Dorie Greenspan’s gorgeous bundt cake which I’ve now made countless times (& is so good that you don’t need to embellish it with any icing at all) but this recipe is worth making again. It’s completely texturally different. It’s feathery light like a sponge cake for the first 24 hours, and then it becomes slightly denser over the next day or so. With good quality white chocolate, the icing is divine. Not too sweet but beautifully smooth; magically bringing the two cake layers together. As you can see from the little fingers present in some of the photos.. the cake was so good that Lil’ E couldn’t restrain himself!
Ingredients
Cake
3 cups cake flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks / 220 g) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups mashed very ripe bananas
6 tbsp buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
White Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing
1 pound (2x 8-ounce packages / 454 grams) cream cheese, softened
6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
8 ounces (226 g) white chocolate (such as Lindt – do not use a baking chocolate like Callebaut), melted and cooled to lukewarm temperature
Garnish
3/4 cup chopped walnuts or walnut halves
Directions
Cake
Preheat oven to 325°F/163ºC.
Grease and lightly flour two 9×2-inch round cake pans, then line the bottoms with waxed paper.
To make the cake: In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt & baking powder. Set aside.
In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the bananas. Add half the dry ingredients, mixing until well incorporated, then add the buttermilk and vanilla, and then the second half of the dry ingredients, mixing well. Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Let the layers cool in the pans for 1 hour. Remove from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack.
White Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing
In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat together the cream cheese and butter until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and beat well. Add the melted chocolate, and beat well. Use immediately or store, covered, at room temperature for up to 4 hours. Makes enough for one 2-layer 9-inch cake.
Assembly
When the cake has cooled, ice between the layers with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing, then ice the top and sides of the cake. Garnish with the walnuts as desired.
This cake is one that your friends and family members will easily polish off even after the heaviest of meals. It’s that kind of cake!
de-brief me 