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.