If this banana cake is looking anything different to you than…well, a banana cake, let me assure you this is the same one, you and me bake in a loaf pan and slice up for breakfast or bake into muffins to put into your lunchboxes. Yeah, the same one that transforms the fate of overripe bananas and they end up with some dessert love (a lot of love in my house) than entering the dustbin.
I started out the usual, predictable way. Ignoring the bananas while they turned black and made the cupboard smell serving as a reminder each time I opened the door that it was time to use them up. I put the batter together intending to bake it in my loaf tin. But the loaf tin was nowhere in sight. And that was because it was sitting in the freezer with a semifreddo I made a few days back. I didn’t want muffins so the batter landed up in a cake pan.
You know I have a weakness for round cakey objects. I feel the urge to spice it up or add nuts or anything that would go with the cake.And frost and decorate and just do something to it. So, before it hit the cake pan I added some poppy seeds to the batter. I frosted it with a quick cream cheese frosting which I’ve been meaning to try out in a while. This one uses whipped cream instead of butter along with the cream cheese so it is lighter and naturally uses far less sugar to get a piping consistency. The frosting can be easily spread on top of the cake if you are not comfortable with piping bags. A drizzle of caramel sauce (store bought) finished the cake. Both the recipe for the cake and the frosting have been separately adapted with some variation from Joy Of Baking
The flavours are lovely together. I was amazed how good the poppy seeds tasted in a banana cake. I think this is by the far the easiest cakes I have made despite having a dressed up look.
Banana Poppy Seed Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Serves 6-8
For the Banana Poppy Seed Cake
13/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup castor sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp. poppy seeds
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 large ripe bananas, mashed with a fork
1 tsp vanilla essence
Cream Cheese Frosting, to frost
3-4 tbsp. thick caramel sauce, to drizzle (I used store bought)
For the Cream Cheese Frosting
125g cream cheese, room temparature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup icing sugar, sifted
1/3 cup cold whipping cream or heavy cream.
Preheat oven to 180 degree C. Grease and line the base of a 19 cm round cake tin with baking paper.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and poppy seeds.
In a medium sized bowl combine the mashed banana, eggs, melted butter and vanilla with a wooden spoon. Lightly fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients just until combined. Take care not to over mix the batter or it might result in a rubbery cake. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for about 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre come out clean.
Remove the cake from the oven and keep aside for 5 minutes. Carefully turn the cake onto a wire rack and cool till room temperature. Once cooled, pipe or dollop cream cheese frosting onto the cake. Drizzle with caramel sauce.
To make the cream cheese frosting: In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the vanilla and confectioners sugar and beat until smooth. Gradually add the heavy cream and whip until the frosting is thick enough to pipe. Add more sugar or cream as needed to get the right consistency. In case you are using a brand of heavy cream that does not whip easily, then whip the cream separately to stiff peaks and fold it gradually into the cream cheese mixture. Refrigerate till needed.
Lail | With A Spin says
Love cream cheese frosting and love banana cakes. I can imagine how good the combination of two must have been.
Nava Krishnan says
Wow!!!! I may not love cakes and desserts but I simply adore the gorgeous appearance of the cake. So wonderfully made.
deepti says
Wonderful cake! I kept smiling within when I read your story of how the batter ended up in the cake pan.. well its happened many times to me too for the exact same reason! I love joy of baking recipes, esp her cream cheese frosting is the best!
Kumar's Kitchen says
gorgeous,tender and addictive cake…with that silky frosting and a dose of caramel sauce….heavenly bliss in every bite,thanks ever so much for sharing these wonderful creations 🙂
laurasmess says
That looks incredible Sonali. Absolutely beautiful… moist, lightly spiced and perfectly topped with cream cheese frosting! I definitely want to give this a go… love the additional caramel x
Juliana says
OMG! You always make wonderful cakes…this look delicious…banana and poppy seed. I love how you decorated it.
Have a beautiful weekend 😀
Evelyne@cheapethniceatz says
Wow this cake looks so good and festive with the frosting and caramel so beautifully added. Curious about the whipped cream cream cheese frosting.
Choc Chip Uru says
I love this wonderful cake, the frosting takes it over the top 😀
Delicious!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Coffee and Crumpets says
The whipped cream and cream cheese frosting is one of my favourites since I don’t like many frostings. I love this frosting in carrot cake so I can imagine it goes really well with banana breads/cake. You fancied up the humble banana loaf! Looks beautiful!
Krissie - Pearls of Style says
Oh yum! The drizzle of caramel over that just makes it perfect! Will definitely be whipping this one up.
Krissie x – http://pearlsofstyle.blogspot.com.au
whatjessicbakednext says
This looks divine- I love poppyseed cakes and the cream cheese frosting sounds just divine!
GourmetGetaways says
This is the most special looking banana cake I have seen!! I love it, especially with the caramel drizzle, YUM.
Julie
Gourmet Getaways