Friends, a quick post today, but we need to talk about banana cake. Bourke St Bakery’s banana cake in particular. You see, this is the best banana cake I’ve ever baked, without a doubt. Perhaps it’s because everything is better covered with cream cheese icing, in my opinion, but this cake was truly something special. It never fails to surprise me how the bananas turning brown and sad on your kitchen bench can be turned into something so delicious.
The cake is beautifully moist due to the sour cream, with a lovely caramelly taste due to my new favourite ingredient, raw caster sugar. I deviated from the original recipe, which used a caramel sauce poured over the top, because I didn’t have all the ingredients. But, I had everything I needed for cream cheese icing, my favourite.
The recipe below makes one very large cake, but I made half as cupcakes (road trip snacks for our trip to Orange) and the other half as a smaller 20cm round cake. I can also tell you, it didn’t last long, it was all gobbled up pretty quickly. It’s another fabulous recipe from a truly fabulous book.
Banana Cake
Adapted from Bourke St Bakery
Serves 16
For the cake
• 250g unsalted butter
• 335g raw caster sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 4 eggs
• 200g sour cream
• 300g (2 cups) self-raising flour, sifted
• 2-3 ripe bananas
• 20g golden syrup or soft brown sugar
For the cream cheese icing
• 250g cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup icing sugar, sifted
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Grease a 28cm round cake tin and line the base and sides with non-stick baking paper. The paper should be about 2.5cm above the tin.
Put the butter and golden caster sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Add the vanilla and whisk on low speed until pale and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, allowing each to be completely incorporated before adding the next. Add the sour cream in two batches, then add the flour in 2 batches until combined.
Lightly mash the bananas and drizzle with golden syrup or sprinkle with brown sugar, then fold through the cake mixture to combine. Spoon into the tin and bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the center of the cake. Cover the top of the cake loosely with baking paper if it starts to brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a cake rack.
To make cream cheese icing, place cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer and mix until smooth and creamy. Smooth onto the top of the cooled cake.
11 Comments on “Without a Doubt”
I made it for my three year old's birthday cake (he asked for banana cake!) – utterly delicious.
I didn't do the caramel either, did a thin, hard lemon icing that was fantastic.
This looks divine. I love banana bread mmm… And yes, I agree.. anything covered in cream cheese frosting is delicious! 🙂
That looks great. I've never tried Bourke Street Bakery's banana cakes. I'm always too seduced by chocolate. The recipe seems really straight forward and I like the idea of sourcream with bananas, and then the cream cheese topping. Great photos too 🙂
This looks so good! I'm now craving banana cake 😛 I loveeeeeeeeeeee cream cheese icing.
Oh man, I'm going to have to go and buy bananas right this very instant. Would it be a sin to combine this with your peanut butter frosting from a couple of weeks ago? If it is then I'm a sinner.
p.s. I am mad in love with your blog and living vicariously through your food photography during cash-poor weeks 🙂
x Nicola
nicola-moore.blogspot.com
Oh another great Bourke Street Bakery recipe. I'm excited. This cake looks great, moist and ever so tasty. As cupcakes is also a great idea.
For most foods, I get sad if I don't eat them quickly enough and they go bad. But seeing brown bananas in the fruit bowl puts a smile on face 🙂
So gorgeous. I want to try this so badly. I think I need to buy that book, the shortcrust pastry was amazing too.
I've been unsure whether to make this recipe in the BSB cookbook, thinking it was just another one-note banana cake. You may have just convinced me – it sounds like something special.
Yuummmm! I haven't been BSB (hee hee) in aggess. Shall have to make this sometime!
That looks gorgeous…can't wait to try it…just one question…can i use plain flour instead of self raising flour ?