The boy’s birthday was a couple of weeks ago, but he wanted a “surprise” party, so we’ve delayed the date a little to throw him off track. This cake is a “trial run”. If he likes it, I’ll make the recipe into cupcakes for his party (this Friday – shhhhh!). He LOVES bananas and is not a fan of really gooey buttercream, so I thought this not-too-sweet cake with tangy icing glaze would be perfect. This is my mother’s recipe and was my favorite cake when I was a kid; I hope the boy likes it, too!
Banana Cake with Lemon Icing
for cake:
3/4 cup softened butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. McCormick’s Vanilla Butter & Nut extract
1 cup mashed very ripe banana
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups flour
for icing:
1/4 cup softened butter
1 box (3 and 3/4 cups) powdered sugar
about 1/4 cup half and half (you can use milk, if you’d like, but I wanted the icing REALLY rich and white)
1 tsp. lemon extract
1 Tablespoon freshly grated lemon peel
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease Bundt pan.
Prepare cake batter:
Cream butter and sugar together (I used my mixer). Add eggs and beat gently. Mix in bananas, buttermilk, salt, baking powder, baking soda, extract and then flour. Pour into Bundt pan. Bake for 30 minutes.
Cool cake in pan for 10 minutes then remove (turn over) gently from pan.
Prepare icing:
Cream butter, adding sugar slowly. Add half and half, a little at a time, adjusting amount as necessary to reach desired consistency. Add lemon extract. Spread/pour over cake. Sprinkle with lemon peel.