Adventures In Gateau

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I love bananas.  Especially in a dessert.  Banana bread.  Banana cream pie.  And banana cake.  I particularly like quick and easy banana cake, using a box mix and some canned cream cheese frosting.  Super easy, and a respectful way to deal with the inevitable buildup of very ripe bananas, as I always buy more than I can eat.

There are lots of recipes on the inter-webs for banana cake, both from scratch and using a box mix.  But most of those ask you to put in spices, like cinnamon and nutmeg and such.  While I like those spices just fine, it tilts the flavor profile toward traditional banana bread.  And if that’s what you’re going for, why not just make banana bread?  My recipe leans toward banana cream pie in cake form by way of adding an epic amount of vanilla.  My homemade vanilla, of course (you can find the recipe here). Utterly delicious.  What’s not to love about that?

First, the method, followed by the recipe.  The method differs slightly from the recipe, but truly, either way will work.  Set your eggs and milk out for at least an hour to let them come to room temperature.  When you’re ready to start mixing, you’ll need to melt a stick of butter in the microwave.  In the interest of dirtying fewer dishes, I just melt the butter in a glass bowl that is big enough for me to mix the batter in.  Also, if you don’t want a most unfortunate and messy butter explosion in the microwave, cut the butter into pieces and microwave in short bursts on low power.  When the butter is melted, mash in your bananas and then add the rest of your ingredients (except the cake mix) and mix well.  Add the cake mix and whisk for a couple minutes, until all the cake mix lumps are gone.  You’ll still have some lumps from the banana.  Pour it into your greased 13x9” baking pan (I got mine here;  I love this line of Parrish pans!) and bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean or with just a couple crumbs on it.  Let it cool completely in the pan before you frost it with the cream cheese frosting.  This should keep 3-4 days, preferably in the fridge.

Quick and Easy Banana Cake

Click here for printable PDF of recipe

INGREDIENTS:

3 ripe bananas

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, just melted

3 eggs at room temperature

1 cup milk at room temperature

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

15 oz box of yellow cake mix

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 can cream cheese frosting

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350°.  Grease a 13x9” baking pan.

In a large bowl, mash the bananas.  Add the melted butter and whisk until well combined.  Add the eggs one at a time, whisking after each addition.  Whisk in the milk and the vanilla.

Sift together the cake mix, baking soda, and salt.  Add to the banana mixture and whisk briskly until combined and smooth.  Pour into prepared baking pan.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until cake springs back when gently touched in the center and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Let cake cool completely before topping with cream cheese frosting.