Banana Cake with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

I have found "the one". The recipe that edges out all others and will become my go to Banana Cake recipe. As three bananas sat and ripened for a week~ a week in which I could not eat them~ and I knew flour, which is also restricted 6 days a week would need to be used, a desire for banana cake was born. It was so good it became breakfast, lunch, snack, and company dinner dessert on my "cheat day" the weekend before last. Then it became breakfast again for last weekends cheat day since I was smart enough to make and freeze an 8 inch round cake on top of the 16 cupcakes. I used that to make the banana cake dessert below since my 7 year old son is very into all the food network competitions and he often grades me on my plating. Most days I fall short of the perfect 5, but this day he easily gave it to me.

As if finding the grand master of banana cake recipes wasn't enough, I stumbled across the perfect cream cheese frosting. Most are heavy. When I ran into one called whipped cream cheese frosting, it had no chance of escaping me. Now it is my prisoner. Truth be told it's the other way around. This frosting has got quite a hold on me. I love how light it is without giving up any flavor. It unfortunately doesn't give up any calories either. How unfair that something so light and fluffy still has a huge caloric downfall. I think it would also double nicely as a fruit dip.

The boys loved it. So did our dinner guests. Cruz wanted to make fondant decorations for the company cupcakes, darn that food network!, but I didn't have the fondant, or the time, so we made everyones initials in melting candy. It was just the right touch of cute.

Banana Cake recipe- adapted from Allrecipes A-Number-1 Banana Cake

Ingredients

• 3 cups cake flour
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1 pinch salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 2/3 cup buttermilk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour 2 - 9 inch round pans. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter, white sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in the bananas. Add flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk to the creamed mixture. Pour batter into the prepared pans.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a cake rack to cool.

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting- adapted from Allrecipes

Ingredients

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese- at room temperature
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

Directions

1. In a mixer beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form; set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl combine cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla. Mix until smooth.
3. Add cream cheese mixture to the whipped cream and beat on low just until incorporated.