Famous Banana Walnut Cake

by Deborah on March 7th, 2008

This cake isn’t really famous, at least not that I know of. My five year old son and I made it for my Mom’s birthday party yesterday and when she asked him what kind of cake he made he replied “Famous Banana Walnut Cake”. A new family recipe was born. Now, I’ve been making this cake for years and while it was a recipe given to me by a friend, I made a few modifications over the years and hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup butter
2 1/8 cups white sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Cream Cheese Icing

1/2 cup butter, softened
2(8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour a 9×13 inch pan. (I actually use two round pans) In a small bowl, mix mashed bananas with lemon juice, set aside. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, and add in the vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. Stir in bananas. Stir in chopped walnuts. Pour batter into pans.
Bake in oven for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
For the frosting: In a large bowl, cream cup butter and cream cheese until smooth. Beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add confectioners sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high until frosting is smooth and fluffy. Spread on cooled cake. Garnish with walnuts.

Notes:

The cream cheese icing was way too sweet for my tastes. It originally called for one package of cream cheese, but I added two. Also, the original recipe calls for the oven to be at 275, but I felt that was way too low. Do watch your oven as it gets down to the wire as cooking times vary depending on the oven. Oh and I generally add an extra banana or two just because it gives more banana flavor - sometimes I even add banana extract to the frosting. I also mush up an extra banana and put it in the middle on top of the icing.

If you make it, let me know how it worked out for you.

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