Banana Snack Cake, served with Cream Cheese Frosting

In an effort to put together a casual dessert for lunch with our grandparents and also use up our quickly-going-bad bananas, we though that A straightforward snack-style cake would be a great choice. We typically turn to banana bread when we need to put browning bananas to good use, and was looking forward to having another straightforward banana baked good in our rotation for such occasions.

This cake turned out exactly how we'd hoped; it’s straightforward to mix, comes together quickly, incredibly plush and, most importantly, rich. Originally, we wasn’t going to include a frosting, but we just couldn’t help myself. We love frosting, especially cream cheese frosting. If you’re a fellow frosting lover, we think you’ll find this to be memorable. Our mom, our grandpap and we all gave it a big two thumbs up. If you’re a little more ambivalent about frosting, you might consider scaling it back; both our grandma and Chief Culinary Consultant thought the frosting could have maybe been halved. (What!? Who are these people?! How are they related to us?!)

Do you have a favorite recipe you turn to when there is a plethora of browning bananas on your counter?

• Yield: 12 servings
• Prep: 45 minutes
• Cook: 30 minutes
• Total: 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

For the Cake:

• 2 cups ( 250 g ) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon ( 0.5 teaspoon ) salt
• 1⅓ cups ( 266.67 g ) granulated sugar
• ¼ cup ( 54.5 ml ) vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 4 ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup ( 240 ml ) buttermilk

For the Cream Cheese Frosting:

• 8 ounces ( 226.8 g ) cream cheese, at room temperature
• ½ cup ( 113.5 g ) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• Pinch salt
• 4 cups ( 480 g ) powdered sugar
• 1½ teaspoons ( 1.5 teaspoons ) vanilla extract

Method

1. Make the Cake: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a 9×13-inch baking pan; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
3. Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar and oil together on medium speed until completely combined. Add both eggs and beat to combine, then add the mashed bananas and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk, mixing until combined. Use a rubber spatula to give the batter one last mix, then pour into the prepared pan.
4. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Set on a wire rack to cool completely.
5. Make the Cream Cheese Frosting: With an electric mixer, cream together the cream cheese, butter and salt on medium speed. Reduce the speed to medium-low and gradually add the powdered sugar until it has all been combined. Add the vanilla extract, increase the speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy.
6. Spread the frosting over the cooled cake, cut into squares and serve. Leftovers should be covered with plastic wrap or placed in an airtight container and kept at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.