Oh! How I love this Banana Cake. The recipe comes from my mother. Like so many cakes and biscuits recipes, it has been handed down through the generations of our farming family. Baking seems to be innate in country families. Perhaps it must be all those shearers who need feeding. This recipe is in my first hand written recipe book that I took with me for my job as a governess when first leaving school. It contains many gems still relevant today.
Ingredients
2 x 20cm sandwich cake tins
180 gms softened butter
150 gms castor sugar
3 eggs
4 - 5 very ripe bananas – depending on size
2 tsp vanilla extract
1½ tsp bicarb soda
3 tbls milk
250 gms SR flour
Cream Cheese Icing
120 gms softened butter
250 gms cream cheese
2 cups sifted icing sugar
Vanilla extract
Method
Preheat oven to 160'C
Line the base of the cake tins with baking paper, greasing the sides.
Mix together the bi-soda and the milk.
Place the peeled bananas in a bowl and mash.
Cream the butter and sugar until light and pale.
Add the eggs, one at a time, to the butter mixture and beat well.
Remove from the mixer and fold in the sifted flour, bananas, vanilla and the bi-soda mixture.
Once incorporated, spoon the batter evenly between the 2 prepared cake tins. Use the back of a spoon to smooth and level the surface on each tin.
To Bake
Place in the preheated oven and bake for 30–35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Remove the cakes from the oven and leave in the tins for around 5 minutes.
Turn the cakes out onto a cooling rack and leave to cool before icing.
Cream Cheese Icing
In an electric mixer cream the butter till slightly pale.
Add the cream cheese and mix until incorporated.
Add the icing sugar and vanilla on a low speed and mix until incorporated.
Add a dash of vanilla.
To Ice
Once the cakes have cooled, sandwich together with the cream cheese icing.
Tips
The bananas need to be ripe. Look for the ones in the supermarket or greengrocer they sell at a discount. They make the best cakes.
If I have bananas that are very ripe and I don’t need them at that stage I will freeze them, skin and all, for use at a later date.
Have the ingredients at room temperature.
Sometimes when adding the eggs to the creamed butter and sugar the mixture will slightly curdle. To prevent this, I add a small tablespoon of the flour with the eggs.
If the mixture does slightly curdle, don’t be too concerned as it will come back together when the flour is incorporated.
This recipe is a layered cake, but the recipe can be adapted to make one large cake if preferred. Just use one large tin – 24 cm approximately. The length of cooking time will be longer of course.