Banana Cake with Sour Cream Frosting

 

What could be better than the flavor of Banana Bread with the lighter texture of a cake? Sour Cream frosting provides a slightly tangy flavor, which makes a nice contrast to the sweetness of the banana cake. The cake is adapted from a recipe I found on Epicurious a few years ago. The sour cream frosting is something I created to replace the cream cheese frosting the original recipe called for (I am not a big fan of cream cheese frosting).

 

I recommend making this as a sheet cake in a 9x13 pan. I have tried it as a layer cake, but it is dense and sweet, and just seems too heavy with two layers.

 

 

For the Cake:

1 1/3 Cups Sugar

1 Cup Mashed Ripe Bananas (about 3 small bananas)

1/2 Cup Vegetable or Canola oil

2 large eggs

1/4 Cup Buttermilk

1 teaspoon Vanilla extract

2 Cups All-purpose Flour

1 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 teaspoon Salt

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and dust with flour a 9x13 pan (or line with parchment paper).

 

In a bowl, combine the sugar, mashed banana, oil, eggs, buttermilk and vanilla. Beat by hand (or with an electric mixer on low) until mixture is well-blended.

 

In a seperate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Add these dry ingredients into the banana mixture, again beating by hand (or on low) just until well-blended.

 

Bake at 350 for 22-25 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool to room temperature before frosting.

 

For the Frosting:

1/4 Cup Butter, softened
3 Tablespoons Sour Cream
2 Cups Confectioner's Sugar

Beat the butter, sour cream and confectioner's sugar together with an electric mixer on medium for 2-3 minutes. If you want a softer consistency, add another tablespoon of Sour Cream.