Beautiful Banana Cake

One of my most favorite birthday presents was a gift card to Sur La Table. Not one to let a good gift card linger too long in my wallet, I promptly used it to buy Ina Garten's (The Barefoot Contessa) cookbook titled, "How Easy Is That?"

It's been two days. I've made two things. And this cake is one of them. DELISH! Moist and satisying and the orange zest gives it an extra layer of YUM.

Old Fashioned Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe 

Ingredients

3 very ripe bananas, mashed

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Grated zest of 1 orange

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Cream cheese frosting (recipe follows)

Walnut halves, for decorating

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 x 2-inch round cake pan.

Mix bananas, granulated sugar and brown sugar in bowl with an electric mixer on low speed until combined. Add oil, eggs, sour cream. vanilla and orange zest. Mix until smooth.

Stir together flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl. With mixer on low, add dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Stir in chopped walnuts. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 15 minutes, turn out onto cooling rack and cool completely.

Spread the frosting thickly on top of cake and decorate with walnut halves. Slice and serve.
Makes 8 servings.

Cream Cheese Frosting

6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar (1/2 pound)

Mix cream cheese, butter and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment on low speed until just combined. Don’t whip. Add sugar and mix until smooth.