Banana Nut Cake with Banana Nut Frosting

March 10, 2019–I’ve made this cake a few years ago for my boy DKG, AKA OBM, for his birthday. He asked me to make him, “a banana nut cake with banana nut frosting!” The request was very specific. When I looked to the googolplex for some ideas I did not find this exact recipe so I combined a few. I didn’t think about taking pictures of the process because this was pre-blog and I was working in an unfamiliar kitchen with non-standard tools. Although I do not watch any of the cooking competition shows I told my friend MAW that I felt like I was on one because she has no baking equipment. One difference between this cake and the one I made earlier is this one only has two layers while the first one had three. I used the extra batter to make cupcakes because who needs a three layer cake?!?! I can’t actually believe I just said that. With the exception of the ripe bananas you should have all ingredients in your pantry:

Cake:
2 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup solid vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cups mashed banana
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, toasted
Frosting:
2 mashed bananas
3 tablespoons butter, room temperature
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, toasted

Preheat your oven to 350F. You will have enough batter for three layers but as mentioned above I only made two layers and used the remaining batter for cupcakes. Whichever combination you decide to do you will need to spray the 9-inch cake pans and/or cupcake pans with cooking spray and line cake pans with parchment paper sprayed with cooking spray or cupcake holders.

It is a basic cake recipe so comes together relatively quickly. Cream sugar and shortening together with an electric mixer. Add mashed banana, eggs and vanilla. Mix well.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. As a general rule I always sift my ingredients. It ensures there are no lumps and ‘pre-mixes’ them to ensure they are evenly dispersed. Add to banana mixture alternately with buttermilk. Beat 3 minutes on medium speed.

Stir in pecans.

Pour batter into pans. Bake 30 minutes, rotating halfway through, or until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs.

Allow the cakes to cool on a cooling rack wile you make the frosting. To make the frosting, beat together bananas, butter and confectioners’ sugar. Add additional confectioners’ sugar as needed to achieve spreading consistency. Stir in pecans. You want the frosting to be pretty thick so that it doesn’t slide off of the cake.