Banana Cake

This banana cake is for those of you who love bananas and those of you who love cake. Now who doesn’t fall into that category?

That’s right, this is a crowd-pleaser.

Slicing bananas on cereal might not be for me but roasting the bananas with butter and brown sugar is a smart way to start this banana dessert. I might do just that the next time I bake banana bread or use bananas as a topping on ice cream.

The banana flavor both deepens and sweetens with roasting. The smell of this banana cake is wonderful too.

Banana cake: Cake or Bars?

Cooking Light shares this recipe as “banana bars” but I put this treat firmly in the “cake” category for a few reasons. To me bars need to be eaten with your hands– no utensils allowed. For the sake of scientific experiment (of course!) my son and I each ate one serving with our hands and the other with utensils. Utensils were a clear winner, even my four year old preferred eating this with a fork.

The dessert’s texture has nice cake-like crumbs and any runaway crumbs can quickly be scooped up with a touch of the icing on your fork.

I suppose bars can have icing but I think this icing that falls in between a buttercream and a cream cheese icing also pushes this dessert into the cake category.

Just like a cream cheese icing on carrot cake, this icing pairs really well with the banana flavor.

It’s hard to think of a time of year when bananas aren’t plentiful at the grocery store which is another positive point in favor of this dessert.

This cake could be served with morning coffee, mid-afternoon tea, and after-school treat, or dinner’s dessert.

Recipe from Cooking Light January 2009

Here are more banana recipes that you will enjoy!

• Upside down banana bread
• Gluten Free Banana Muffins
• Mini toffee banana bread
• Gluten free banana bread