Bananas and a Sunday Afternoon

I love, love, love Ina Garten's desserts.  Something about them - the comfort factor is way up there, the choice of ingredients are typically stocked in our house and there is an easability to substituting ingredients and the darn thing still comes out fabulous!  "How Easy is That?" is the Barefoot Contessa's cookbook that stresses simplicity but delivers on taste and the wow factor.  First off, good ingredients, and secondly, can't beat a woman who successfully ran a bakery for many years!

Today I found three overripe bananas in my kitchen that were screaming to be made into a cake.  Ina came to mind.  Go figure.  Her Old Fashioned Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting looks heavenly - even though I'm not a fan of cream cheese icing, but the other two-legged members of my family are...I'm sensing I'm going to be a hit today.  Thanks Ina!

Old Fashioned Banana Cake with Cream Cheese FrostingBarefoot Contessa- How Easy is That cookbook

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Ingredients

3 very ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream (I used low fat)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour, after sifting
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)
Cream cheese frosting ( optional,recipe follows)
Walnut halves, for decorating

Tip: If you are not fussy for icing, I'd simply sift some icing sugar on top with a few walnut halves.  You can serve warm with a dollop of vanilla cream or even ice cream.

PREHEAT oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 x 2-inch round cake pan, or line the pan with a piece of parchment or wax paper cut to fit inside the cake pan.  Spray the liner and sides lightly with cooking spray. 

MIX bananas, granulated sugar and brown sugar in bowl with an electric mixer on low speed until combined. Add oil, eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Add flour, baking soda and salt. With mixer on low,  mix just until combined. Stir in chopped walnuts if using. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 5 minutes, turn out onto cooling rack.

Serve warm, sprinkled with powdered sugar, or cool completely and top with Cream Cheese Frosting. 

Cream Cheese Frosting

6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar (1/2 pound)

MIX cream cheese, butter and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment on low speed until just combined. Don’t whip. Add sugar and mix until smooth.

Enjoy!