Make Ahead

Banana Spice Cake with Toasted Walnuts and Cream Cheese Frosting

by:
November 10, 2010
4
5 Ratings
  • Serves 8-10
Author Notes

This recipe was my nana's recipe for banana cake, which has been a family favorite for some time. I decided to try and make the recipe a little more "fall-ish" by adding spices to the batter. The spices added the warmth I was looking for and made the dessert a great choice for Thanksgiving - moist, decadent, and delicious! —PinkCupcake22

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • For the cake
  • 2 3/4 cups cake flour
  • 1 tablespoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 4 medium ripe bananas, mashed
  • 2/3 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
  • For the frosting
  • 8 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 3 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon milk
  • 1 cup walnuts, toasted
Directions
  1. For the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2 9-inch round cake pans.
  2. In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and salt into a medium bowl; set aside.
  3. In a large bowl using a stand mixer, beat butter until fluffy, about 1 minute. Gradually add granulated sugar and brown sugar and mix until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
  4. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the bananas. The mixture will look curdled - that is okay.
  5. Add flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour mixture; there should be three additions of the flour mixture and two of the buttermilk.
  6. Pour batter into prepared pans, smoothing tops with an offset spatula to make even.
  7. Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven; cool in the pans for 10 minutes before turning onto cake racks. Cool completely before frosting
  8. For the frosting: In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, cream the cheese and butter until fluffy, about a minute.
  9. Add the sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, mixing after each addition.
  10. Add the vanilla extract and mix well; add milk if necessary to achieve spreading consistency.
  11. Frost cake; top cake with toasted walnut pieces.
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1 Review

durun99
durun99 November 13, 2011
This is a really outstanding cake. We always have lots of leftover bananas that we use to make bread, cupcakes, etc. We've tried several banana cakes over the years, but they never have enough banana flavor. Well this one does, and it works beautifully. The spices are a great complement to the banana flavor and not overwhelming at all. This is a real winner.