Best banana cake

Jeffrey's birthday is this week, also known as the one time a year I attempt to get over my fear of serious baking by making him a cake. The funny thing is that every year they manage to turn out much, much better than I could ever hope,



(including this one, made 3 years ago--devil's food filled with raspberry preserves and frosted with chocolate ganache and fresh raspberries)

but it's still not enough to turn me into a regular baker. Other than quick breads and muffins, I stay pretty far away from any sort of cooking that requires a high level of measurement accuracy.

The last couple of years Jeffrey has requested banana cake and so I've been on the hunt for a really great recipe, as too often banana cake tastes to me like a huge banana bread covered in frosting. I love banana bread, but banana cake should be lighter with a softer crumb, not stodgy and heavy and stacked in a frosted pile that ends up hitting your gut like a solid. And this is unfortunately how most banana cakes recipes taste.




I think this year I found the winning recipe. I also found a really great filling, and though this year I frosted the finish product with a light cream cheese frosting,
next year (if it's on the menu again) I'll simply fill it and top with powdered sugar.




The flavor of this cake is SO good and so much more complex than is typical, that the frosting was too much and ended up overwhelming the lightness of everything else.



Here's the recipe, and yes, the order of the ingredients and method will seem a bit strange compared to standard cake recipes, but this really IS the way you do it.



Banana Cake (from Joy of Cooking)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Get ingredients to room temperature.

Mash together:
2 large ripe bananas
2 Tbsp sour cream OR yogurt

Add and mix well:
2 eggs
2 tsp grated lemon zest
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

In a large bowl, beat on low speed for 30 seconds:
2 c cake flour (OR 2 c - 4 Tbsp regular flour)
3/4 c + 2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Add 1/2 the banana mixture along with:
10 Tbsp butter, softened

Beat on low speed until dry ingredients are moistened. Increase speed to medium and beat for 1 1/2 minutes, scraping sides of bowl as needed. Then gradually add rest of banana mixture. Scrape batter into pan (9" springform, but I improvised with what I had* and just watched the cooking time) and spread evenly. Bake until toothpick in the center comes out clean and the cake springs back when lightly pressed, about 30 minutes.



Filling (from The Quick Recipe)

1 cup heavy cream, chilled
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 very ripe banana, peeled and broken into 4 pieces

While the cake is cooling, place the cream and sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (I used my hand-held mixer because it was easier and the results were still good). Beat at medium-high speed until medium-stiff peaks form, 1.5 minutes. Add banana, one piece at a time, and beat until the cream holds stiff peaks, about 30 seconds longer. Spread onto cooled cake layers, leaving room at the edges if you plan to frost (so it doesn't leak into frosting).





*I made 2 recipes of the cake (separately, as I'm not sure you can ever really double cake recipes successfully?) and divided it into three 8"x2" cake pans, and made a double recipe of the filling and it was plenty.

ENJOY!