If you are like me, you end up buying more bananas than you can eat, especially if they are cheap. So when I saw a bunch of bananas sitting on my kitchen bench, overripe, I thought to myself now is the perfect time to make banana cake.

This recipe has been a bit of trial and error but I think it’s the right balance of moist cake, banana flavour with just a hint of sweetness. The banana cake is great to eat on its own (or you can toast it and add butter) but nothing beats a nice cream cheese frosting layered on top.

I wanted to try something a bit different for the icing, so what pairs well with banana? Honey of course! I added 1/2 of a cup of honey to the cream cheese, however it is best to taste test (what a great excuse) and add a bit at a time until you are happy with the flavour. I decorated the top of the cake with some caramelised bananas and it really finished the cake off nicely. When making the caramelised bananas make sure you do not leave it unattended as the caramel will burn easily.

I had many compliments on the combination of flavours in this cake and the honey icing gave everyone a nice surprise. This banana cake is sure to impress your family or friends both with taste and looks.

Happy baking!                                                                                                  

Additional tips - the caramelised bananas are delicious poured over the top of some vanilla icecream.

Banana Cake with Honey Cream Cheese Icing and Caramelised Bananas

Ingredients

Banana Cake

125g Butter, room temperature

¾ cup of caster sugar

1 ¼ cup of mashed bananas (around 2-3 bananas)

2 eggs, room temperature

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

100ml of buttermilk (*see notes for substitute)

1 ½ cup of self-raising flour

½ teaspoon of bicarb soda

Honey Cream Cheese Icing

500g of cream cheese

½ cup of icing sugar

½ cup of honey (or to taste)

Caramelised Bananas

2 tablespoons of butter

2 banana sliced

2 tablespoons of brown sugar

Method

Banana Cake

Preheat oven to 180c and grease a 20cm round or square cake tin

Cream butter and sugar together using a mixer, then add mashed bananas, eggs, vanilla and mix until well combined. Add in buttermilk and combine. Stir in flour and bicarb soda with a wooden spoon until just combined.

Bake for about 45-50mins until a skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

*notes - to make your own buttermilk add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to 1 cup of milk. Allow to sit for 2 mins and then measure out 100ml of the milk to use in this recipe.

Honey Cream Cheese icing

Beat cream cheese and icing sugar together using a mixer until combined. Add in honey and beat until combined.

Slice  banana cake horizontally. Spread icing on bottom layer of the cake and place the top layer of cake on. Lastly spread icing over the top of the cake.

Caramelised Bananas

Melt the butter in a pan over the stove (medium heat), then add the brown sugar and banana slices.

Allow to cook for 4-5mins, while stirring occasionally until the bananas become caramelised.

Leave the bananas in the pan to cool slightly then place on top of the cake.

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