Banana Cake with Walnuts

I'm always looking for ways to use things up, in this case bananas and buttermilk.  It seems we always have a few bananas that languish until they are black and unattractive looking.  While they are sort of unpleasant to eat, the banana flavor actually gets stronger, which makes them ideal for flavoring a nice, moist cake like this.  The original recipe calls for two bananas, but I think three or four is even better.  You'll get a stronger banana flavor and they make the cake more moist.  The original recipe in Rosie's All-Butter, Cream-Filled, Sugar-Packed Baking Book did not call for walnuts, but I think they add a nice crunch.

BANANA CAKE WITH WALNUTS

Butter for greasing the pan

2 1/4 cups sifted cake flour
5 Tablespoons AP flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons buttermilk, at room temperature
1 cup mashed banana  (3 or 4 very ripe, skin should be mottled with brown)
10 Tablespoons (5 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 Tablespoons vegetable oil
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups toasted walnuts, cut into large pieces (optional)

Cream Cheese Frosting (optional)

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.

Lightly grease a 13x9-inch baking pan with butter.  I like the pyrex pan for this cake so it doesn't dry out too much.

Sift both flours, the baking soda, and salt together into a small bowl and set aside.

In a second bowl, mash the banana

and stir in the buttermilk.

Set aside.

Cream the butter, oil, both sugars, and the vanilla

in a medium-size mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Scrape the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Add the eggs to the butter mixture one at a time and mix on medium speed after each addition until blended, about 10 seconds.  Scrape the bowl each time.

Add one-third of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture with the mixer on low speed, and mix for 8 seconds.  Scrape the bowl.  Add half the banana mixture, mix 10 seconds, and scrape the bowl.

Add the rest of the dry ingredients and the rest of the banana mixture and mix for 10 seconds.

Add the toasted walnuts

and scrape the bowl and stir the batter several times by hand to mix thoroughly.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake until the cake is golden, springs back to the touch, and a tester inserted in the center comes out mostly clean with some moist crumbs clinging to it.  In my oven 28 minutes is perfect.  Try not to overcook it.

Let the cake cool completely in the pan on a rack.

Eat as is, or frost with Cream Cheese Frosting.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
4 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
16 ounces powdered sugar

Start by mixing the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla to blend.

Next, add the powdered sugar.  You can add it in two parts, and start the mixer very slowly to reduce the powdered sugar-dust that tends to want to coat everything in sight.

 After you have all of the sugar mixed in, it will look like this:

Continue mixing for about 5 minutes, or until the frosting is light and fluffy and it looks like this:

I pour it all on top of the cake, then spread it into the corners.

I like to serve it fresh, then refrigerate it for about 2 hours uncovered.  Once the frosting has set, I cover the pan with plastic wrap overnight.  The next day I cut it into serving-size pieces, wrap in plastic in groups of 2 or 3 pieces, and place in a plastic freezer bag.  To serve, place a single piece on a plate, and microwave for 23 seconds at 40% power.  You may have to do a little trial and error with your own microwave...if you go too far, either in time or power, the frosting will melt (which is still tasty, but not so attractive).