Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Banana Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting


My bike tire burst while riding my bike to work yesterday.  I'm not sure what happened.  It was sudden and dramatic.  Luckily, I was only a few blocks from work.  I was able to walk the rest of the way.  


I pushed my bike to a bike shop after work, and the repair man fixed it in about 20 minutes.  I thought I would have to leave it overnight, but I ended up riding it home.


Every year my old coworkers have a barbecue.   Even though I changed jobs recently,  I was still invited.  They were great coworkers, and I miss spending time with them.


I made this cake for the barbecue.  One of my coworkers doesn't like chocolate, so I made a chocolate free dessert.  I can't eat enough chocolate, but this banana cake was pretty great too.


The banana cake recipe came from allrecipes.com.  I made it as directed.  The frosting was my own creation.  The ingredients for the cake are 3/4 cup butter, 2 1/8 cup sugar, 3 eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 3 cups all-purpose flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 1/2 cups buttermilk, 2 teaspoons lemon juice, and 1 1/2 cups mashed bananas.


The ingredients for the brown sugar frosting are 8 ounces cream cheese, 2 tablespoons butter, 6 tablespoons brown sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice, and 2 tablespoons honey.


I creamed together the softened butter and sugar until it was light and fluffy.  This took a few minutes.


In another bowl, I combined the mashed bananas and lemon juice.  I actually used lime juice, but they are close enough.


I beat the eggs one at a time into the creamed sugar and butter.


I creamed in the vanilla extract.


I added the baking soda and salt.


I mixed in a third of the flour and then half of the buttermilk.


I mixed in another third of the flour and then the remaining buttermilk.


I then stirred in the remaining flour.


I stirred in the mashed bananas.



I sampled the batter.  It was good.  I poured the batter into a greased 9 by 13 baking dish.


I baked the cake for 45 to 55 minutes at 275 degrees.  I let the cake cool completely.


For the frosting, I creamed together the softened cream cheese and butter.  This took around 4 to 5 minutes.


I beat in the brown sugar and vanilla extract.


I beat in the pumpkin pie spice and then the honey.


I mixed it vigorously for a few more minutes and then spread it evenly over the cake.



It was a flavorful and appetizing cake.


The texture of the cake was tender and moist.  The frosting was silky, smooth, and creamy.




The cake had a pronounced banana flavor.  The frosting was subtly sweet and had warm and inviting spices.


It had warm fall flavors.  It was a well balanced and flavorful cake.  It was very delicious.  My coworkers enjoyed it, and I enjoyed it too.



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