Growing up I was familiar with banana bread. It was a special treat that we would get whenever my Grandma had overripe bananas sitting on the counter. However, it wasn’t until I was in college that I learned what banana cake was, and now it’s become a special dessert that my family looks forward to whenever we have overripe bananas sitting on our counter.

How banana cake came about

When I was in college, I worked in a group home for children. We were responsible for teaching them life skills and helping them with the day to day responsibilities of life. One of those life skills that we helped them with was cooking.

One of the kids that I worked with adored helping out in the kitchen. He also adored bananas. And sometimes during the summer when the kids weren’t in school, the days would seem so long.

One hot summer day, we discovered that there were bananas sitting on the counter that were about to go bad. With nothing to do that day, the other staff members and I decided to gather the kids and try to make something with them. We all agreed that we didn’t want bread. We knew that the kids loved cake, so we figured we didn’t have anything to lose and would combine our knowledge and try our hands at a banana cake. The result was to die for!

How to make it

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Cream together 1 3/4 cups sugar with 1/2 cup of softened butter. I used salted butter, but it’s good with unsalted butter too.

When the mixture is light and fluffy, add 2 eggs and continue beating until smooth.

Dissolve 1 teaspoon of baking soda into 1/2 cup of buttermilk. Stir into the batter.

Add 1 cup mashed bananas.

Then add 2 1/4 cups sifted flour. If you have cake flour, it works perfectly. But all purpose flour works well too.

Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla.

Mix well, and pour into a greased 9×13 inch pan.

Bake for 30-45 minutes or until done. Then cool.

To make the cream cheese icing

Warning: This icing is so stinking good that I could eat it straight from the bowl without the cake. You’ve been warned. You’re welcome!

Beat 1 package of softened cream cheese with 1/4 cup of butter (Again, I use salted, but it tastes great with unsalted butter.), 2-3 tablespoons of milk, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla until smooth.

Gradually beat in powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, on low speed until smooth and spreadable.

Spread on cooled cake. Keep refrigerated since it has cream cheese in the icing.

Enjoy! I like mine with an ice cold glass of milk on hot days. But it’s also great with coffee for breakfast. It’s got bananas in it, that counts as a fruit, right?!