Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Submitted by: Lisa Street, in Memory of Beryl Pressley

¾ cup butter
2 1/8 cups sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla
3 cups flour
1 ½ teaspoons of baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups of buttermilk
2 teaspoons of lemon juice
1 ½ cups mashed ripe bananas

Frosting:

½ cup butter, softened
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3 ½ cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Optional: Chopped Walnuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 275 degrees
Grease and flour 9x13 pan
In a small bowl, mix mashed banana with lemon juice; set aside
In a medium bowl, cream ¾ cup of butter & 2 1/8 cups sugar until light & fluffy
Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in 2 tsp vanilla
Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk*
Stir in banana mixture
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for one hour or until toothpick inserted comes out clean
Remove from the oven and place directly into freezer for 45 minutes (will make cake very moist)
For the frosting, cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth
Beat in 1 tsp of vanilla
Add powdered sugar and beat on low until combined, then on high speed until frosting is smooth.
Spread on cooled cake
Sprinkle chopped walnuts over top of frosting, if desired.

*If you do not have buttermilk you can mix use 1.5 cups of milk with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Let it set for at least 10 minutes.

Baking time may vary based on individual ovens. On average it’s 1 hour, but for me it takes 1.5 hours. So check it while it’s baking.