Banana Snack Cake

Recently we were talking about foods that seem to have disappeared… and Snack Cake was among them.   Growing up, my Mother made Bundt cakes.. all kinds… it was her thing.  Well, Snack Cakes were my thing when my son was growing up.   I admit I used the mix.. but they were good… perfect for a small snack.. perfect for in a lunch box…  Banana Snack Cake was a favorite…

Somewhere between the years of raising my son and now.. they disappeared.   Apparently there is a mix or two out there still.. but not the variety they once had.  For the life of me.. I can’t imagine why they stopped making all of them.  They were quick and easy…  albeit not gourmet… but really how many family favorites are actually “gourmet”?

I had ripe bananas on the counter staring me down… so I decided to make a Banana Snack Cake… I hunted down recipes…. I wanted a quick, easy and simple recipe… one that would truly replace or at the very least try to replace those mixes.

I settled on one from Cooking Light… I made very few changes…

TIPS

Yogurt or sour cream…..I didn’t have plain yogurt (or even vanilla yogurt).. okay I did have Greek yogurt in the fridge but it is really really tangy… not for this recipe anyway….. so I subbed sour cream.. a great choice… more on that later.  Feel free to revert back to yogurt.. although I highly recommend you use vanilla yogurt if you use yogurt.

The recipe called for ¾ cup mashed banana (1 medium)…. I had several really large bananas.. so I mashed one of them… it made about ½ cup.. so not sure where they got 1 medium to mash into ¾ cup… and since I didn’t want to cut back on the banana… after all this is a Banana Snack Cake.. I used 2 bananas and had 1 cup of banana… so I cut back the sour cream to ¾ cup… again.. good choice.. the cake came out perfect.. the texture was perfect..  moist and just a tad dense.

The recipe called for only 1/3 cup sugar.. I was suspicious… and with good reason.. I like cutting back as much as the next person… but I’m not about to consume calories that are tasteless just for the sake of eating cake… I followed the recipe nonetheless… the result … was poor… great texture… barely tasted the banana and just not sweet enough…  so I iced it thinly with Fluffy White Frosting (about 4-5 tablespoons of frosting)… perfect!

If you don’t want to ice the cake with some frosting.. you will need to up the sugar in the recipe to ¾ cup.. otherwise.. it will be just too bland.

This cake should be refrigerated.  For some reason it brings out the banana flavor… I also would recommend … if you want a stronger banana flavor… upping the banana amount to 1 ½ cups (for me .. that would be three very ripe bananas… I would only slightly cut back the sour cream… just when you bake it be sure your toothpick comes out clean when testing it.

This was made in a 9 inch round pan… you can also make it in a 9 inch square pan.

Try this wonderful snack cake…. and…

Recipe:  Banana Snack Cake

All you need:

1 ½ cups flour

1/3 -3/4 cup sugar (see TIPS)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cups sour cream (see TIPS)

1 to 1 ½  cups mashed bananas (see TIPS)

¼ cup oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg, slightly beaten

Cooking oil spray

Fluffy White Frosting (for icing)

All you need to do:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Spray a 9 inch round or square cake pan with cooking oil spray.

In a large bowl mix the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt).  

TIP:   I use a wire whisk to mix the ingredients evenly.

In a medium bowl combine the remaining ingredients, mixing well.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  (Mine took only 20 minutes.. don’t over-bake.. you want this cake moist.

Remove from oven and cool completely.  *You can leave this in the pan or remove it… it’s up to you.  I left mine in the pan.

Put a thin layer of icing on the cake and refrigerate.   This cake is best served cold.