Banana cake with cream cheese icing

It’s hard to go past a classic banana cake and this recipe makes one of the best. The addition of sour cream helps create a super moist cake, while vanilla essence adds new depth to the flavour making it a surefire crowd pleaser every time. Like any good banana cake it’s got a tasty cream cheese icing to go on top that’s perfectly smooth and super delicious. If you want to add a little more crunch to the recipe add a handful of chopped walnuts to the mix or sprinkle them on top of the icing before serving for a pretty finish. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 125g butter, softened
• 300g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 250ml sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 250g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon bicarb of soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 225g mashed ripe banana
  Icing
• 200g cream cheese, softened
• 4 tablespoons (80g) butter, softened
• 125g sieved icing sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease lamington tin. Add butter and sugar to a large bowl, beat together until smooth. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Stir in sour cream and vanilla. Combine flour, bicarb and salt in a separate bowl and then stir into batter. Mix in mashed banana. Spoon into the prepared tin. Smooth over top.
2. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow the slice to cool completely.
3. Meanwhile for icing, in a medium bowl, cream together cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in the vanilla, then gradually stir in the icing sugar. Spread generously over cake. Slice and serve.