It’s my friend Monica’s birthday and of course I made a cake. I went through the massive list of recipes I have bookmarked and decided on a banana cake. I made a few changes: I omitted the nuts (Monica doesn’t like nuts), opted for a cream cheese frosting, and threw in some chocolate shavings for decoration.

slice

Banana Birthday Cake
-adapted from this recipe

  • 2 cups packed light brown sugar
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 4 large eggs
  • 4 bananas, mashed with a fork
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 4 cups sifted cake flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt

Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 12 ounces cream cheese , softened
  • 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 5 1/2 cups confectioner’s sugar, sifted
  • chocolate shavings to decorate (optional)

Instructions-
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (325 degrees F with convection). Spray 3 (9″ round) pans with non-stick spray. Set aside.
2. Cream sugar and butter together with paddle attachment on mixer. Add eggs one at a time, beating well between each egg. Add bananas, sour cream, and vanilla, mixing just till combined. Don’t worry about lumps.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.
4. Fold dry ingredients into wet batter, just until combined. Do not over mix.
5. Pour into prepared pans and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack and cool completely before frosting.
6. To make frosting, use the paddle attachment to combine butter and cream cheese at medium speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add confectioner’s sugar gradually.

Notes on assembling and decorating:

While this cake is moist, the edges are crispy, so I decided to cut the edges off.

Banana Cake Layers

After frosting as usual, I decided to cover the sides with chocolate shavings.
Chocolate Shavings

I mixed red food coloring into the little bit of frosting left over to decorate and write “Happy Birthday Monica”.
Monica's Birthday Cake 3

To see Monica’s birthday cake from last year, click here.

posted by jessica at 11:10 PM Filed under Desserts, Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.