Yes, another cake

Banana Cake VI
The Ugly Binder, from Allrecipes.com

Cake:
¾ cup butter
2 1/8 cups white sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups buttermilk
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 ½ cups mashed bananas I used organic bananas

Frosting:
½ cup butter, softened
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar (1 box)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan. In a small bowl, mix mashed bananas with lemon juice, set aside. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream ¾ cup butter and 2 1/8 cups sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in 2 teaspoons vanilla. Beat in the flour mixture alternatively with the buttermilk. Stir in banana mixture. Pour batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, or until toothpick inserted into center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and place directly into freezer for 45 minutes. This will make the cake very moist. I didn't do this and the cake was still very moist.
4. For the frosting: In a large bowl, cream ½ cup butter and cream cheese until smooth. Beat in 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Add confectioners’ sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high until frosting is smooth. Spread on cooled cake.
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I debated trying a new banana cake recipe from one of my cookbooks or pulling this tried-and-true recipe out of my 'ugly binder', and the tried-and-true recipe won out. It got rave reviews at the 4th (well, 3rd) of July picnic I brought it to and I didn't come home with a crumb of it (much to hubby's chagrin) so I think I made the right decision.

This is a dense, moist cake. The picture is of a 'sample' cake made in a custard cup. The frosting was much thicker on the actual cake. The cake was uneven, and I suspect maybe the low baking temperature caused that, but I also think that helped keep the entire cake very moist (there were no crunchy edges). You might want to read through the reviews to see what others say about the temp, which I'm sure I did when I originally made this cake but there are almost 250 reviews for this cake - too many for me to go through again. My cake cooked perfectly in exactly 1 hour at 275 degrees (well, perfectly except for the lumpy surface which the frosting covered).

I'd been craving banana cake for a while and I'm glad I got that out of my system.

Question of the Day: What have you been craving?