Nothing erks me more than wasting a bunch of overripe bananas! There are just so many different delicious things you can bake with them that it pains me to throw them out. But if you have bananas in your house as much as I do, you know that you can’t possible bake up something every time a batch passes its’ prime…. that would be just like eating pizza every night for dinner. It will eventually lose its appeal.
I haven’t made anything with my bananas in a very long while though. Not since last summers banana bread now that I think about it… so I am way overdue. I saw this particular recipe around the web last year and have been eyeing it since. I was a little tentative about making it since the frosting called for vanilla pean paste- not an everyday item I can pick up at the grocer’s. Since I’ve been in Germany though, I have been able to find all sorts of nifty baking items! Including a cute little bottle of vanilla bean paste. I picked it up immediately, not wanting to miss my opportunity to not have to special order something for once, and thought of this recipe as soon as I got home. This frosting can of course be made with vanilla extract to make things easier, but vanilla bean paste packs that extra punch of french vanilla-y flavor. It kind of made it taste like a pastry cream. So between the vanilla pastry cream flavor of the frosting and the banana flavored cake, this almost tasted like a banana cream pie cake. Not all together a bad thing, especially if you love yourself some banana cream pie. Personally, I think I would have enjoyed it more if the frosting was a different flavor. When I think banana I usually don’t immediately think of vanilla as a partner. I would have probably chosen a light cream cheese frosting or glaze. Maybe a brown sugar one would have been fun. Or even a light peanut butter frosting. A simple confectionary sugar glaze or dusting would have been plenty as well. The banana cake has such a strong delicious flavor it truly carries itself well all on its own. So if you don’t think you would be a fan of the banana cream type flavor I would highly suggest throwing a different topping on there.
The cake itself is SO easy to throw together! It turns out perfectly moist and delicious. This is truly a great recipe for a banana cake, which can easily be doubled and baked in a 9″ x 13″ pan if you don’t have a 8″ square pan. Before I started baking regularly I always passed by 8″ square pan recipes because I didn’t have one. I don’t want to let that stop you from trying this beauty out! So just double it : ) and make even better use of all those fermenting bananas on your counter…
- FOR THE CAKE:
- ⅔ cups sugar
- ½ cups sour cream
- 1 large egg
- 2 Tb butter, softened
- 2 whole overripe bananas, mashed
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp baking soda
- FOR THE FROSTING:
- 2 Tb butter, softened
- 1-¼ cup confectioner’s sugar
- ¼ cups heavy cream
- ½ teaspoons vanilla bean paste Or extract
- For Cake: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter and flour a 8″ square pan. Cream together sugar, sour cream, egg, and butter. Add mashed bananas and vanilla extract. Add flour, salt, and baking soda; mix well. Pour into pan. Bake 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.
- For Frosting: Cream butter and confectioner’s sugar together until smooth. Slowly add the heavy cream; stir until smooth. Stir in the vanilla bean paste until fully incorporated. Spread on cooled cake.
adapted from Butter Yum
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
By coincidence, we too had some over-ripe bananas on hand today. Lexi and I made a welcome home banana cake for Molly, who had been away for three days for some army training. I didn’t see your post until later. I used a similar recipe but subbed low-fat berry yogurt for the sour cream and it tasted just great. We made cream cheese frosting which was a hit with Lexi. You can see a photo on FB of her licking the frosting off the beater.
Aw, that’s so wonderful! I hope you guys have a nice visit : )