Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

If I could only have one flavor of cake, it would be banana cake. It is my all time favorite cake flavor, with the best I have ever had coming from Larsen's Bakery in Vancouver, Washington...it is seriously amazing, banana-y sinful goodness, with layers of cake, custard & fresh banana filling and cream cheese frosting. My mouth actually begins to salivate at the thought of that cake. 

Even since moving down to Arizona I have wanted to try and recreate that cake and over the years I have yet to find the perfect base for it...until a couple of weeks ago! I found a recipe on one of my favorite baking blogs for some banana bars and I thought...heck I have some bananas turning black and yucky on my counter, why not try something new? Instead of just following the recipe I tweaked it just a little to add some extra moisture to the recipe, once again trying to come close to the cake from Larsen's...and I think that I have finally done it! I just made this into a simple 9x13 pan shaped cake with cream cheese frosting, but I think that I will make this into a layer cake next time and try to recreate my favorite cake!

I hope that you enjoy this cake...it is really delicious!


Banana Cake with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting
adapted from mybakingaddiction


Ingredients
for the cake…

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 mashed ripe bananas

for the frosting…

• 1 (8) ounce package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter; softened
• 1 lbs. confectioners’ sugar
• 1 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions for Cake
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×13 inch pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the sour cream and vanilla.
3. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; stir into the batter. Finally, mix in the mashed banana. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
4. Bake for 25-30 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow bars to cool completely before frosting with the cream cheese frosting.

To make frosting:
In the bowl of your mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix cream cheese and butter until smooth. Gradually add in the confectioners’ sugar and mix until smooth and creamy. Stir in vanilla extract. Spread on cooled cake.

Enjoy!