Heavenly Banana Cake

Every Monday night BF, myself and a big group of our wonderful friends get together for what I call family dinner.


{ This night is by far one of my weekly faves! }

Each week family dinner is hosted at another friend's house - pot luck dinner party style! The person hosting usually makes the main dish and then all of us bring something to compliment the theme.

I, of course, realized it was family dinner night at 4 p.m. yesterday, so I was racking my brain to find a new yummy dessert to bring! After scanning the kitchen and finding several perfectly ripe bananas, the search was on! It only took me 10 minutes of scanning allrecipes.com [my go to fave!] to find this amazing recipe for banana cake with cream cheese frosting!

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{ Banana Cake w/ Cream Cheese Frosting }

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter
2 1/8 cups white 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
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas

1/2 cup butter softened
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese softened
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1) Preheat oven to 275 degrees.
2) Grease a 9x13 inch pan.
3) In a small bowl, mix mashed bananas with lemon juice, set aside.
4) In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
5) In a large bowl, cream 3/4 cup butter and 2 1/8 cups sugar until light and fluffy.
6) Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in 2 teaspoons vanilla.
7) Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk.
8) Stir in banana mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan.


Bake Time: 1 hour [My cake took 1 hr + 20 min]

**Remove from oven and place immediately in the freezer for 45 min!**


[I know, I thought this freezer trick sounded weird too, but this made the cake SUPER moist and yummy!]


Frosting Directions

1) In a large bowl, cream 1/2 cup butter and cream cheese until smooth.
2) Beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla.
3) Add confectioners sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high until frosting is smooth.
4) Spread frosting on cooled cake, chill and serve!

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The cake was super easy to prepare and was in the oven in no time! This cake was SO moist, with rich banana flavor and the BEST smooth cream cheese frosting I've ever tasted! The feedback I got from all of our friends was that they LOVED IT!

Well, I hope you try it out! It's perfect for any dinner party, shower or BBQ that you may have coming up!

PS- In case you're trying to watch it with the sweets [like me!], try my Guilt Free Cupcakes!


Bon Appetit!