Banana Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (#15)

Banana Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting - made April 19. 2015 from Simply Recipes

After my last two baking debacles (Snickerdoodle AppleCobbler and Snipdoodles), I needed an easy win to offer the baking gods that I couldn’t fail three times in a row. And nothing’s easier than a sheet cake or had a high probability of being a winner than a banana sheet cake with cream cheese frosting. Plus it’s been awhile since I made yet another attempt to try and duplicate the banana cake from Icing on the Cake. This is attempt #15 in case anyone’s lost count.

I didn’t expect this would be a lot like Icing on theCake’s texture since it didn’t have what I’d consider some progress in my previous 16 attempts to replicate their banana cake texture, namely cake flour for a softer crumb. But still, it turned out to be a pretty good cake nonetheless and soothed my baking ego that I wasn’t a total loser just because my previous two baking attempts were semi (or wholly) failures.

This was good and a bit standard, meaning not sure I’ll remember it a few months from now or feel the urge to make it again, but if you need a quick, easy and tasty banana cake to feed a crowd, this will do nicely. As always, make sure you’re using overripe bananas and don’t overbake it.

2 cups all purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 cup white granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• The scraped insides of one vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 cup of mashed ripe bananas (2 large or 3 medium bananas)
• 1/2 cup full fat sour cream

Frosting

• 6 ounces cream cheese, room temp
• 4 Tbsp (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, room temp
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) . In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
2. Beat together in a mixer the butter and sugars. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Mix in the vanilla and mashed bananas.
3. Mix in half of the flour mixture, then the sour cream, then the other half of the flour mixture.
4. Spread batter evenly in a greased 10x15 baking pan. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 20 minutes, or until nicely browned and the surface bounces back when you press it with your finger. Cool completely before frosting.
5. To make the frosting, mix all of the ingredients together with an electric mixer. If too stiff to spread, add a teaspoon or two of water. Spread the frosting evenly over the cake and slice to serve.