Banana Cake with Caramel Icing

This cake is from the newest Bluegrass Winner's Cookbook. I have the honor of making birthday cakes for my coworkers and one lady chose this one for her birthday today. It was SO easy to make and it was SO yummy. It tasted like a moist banana bread, a little sweeter, with a nice caramel glaze. That was my only point of contention with the recipe - it says frosting but it's really more of a glaze. So don't wait around all day and all night waiting for it to take on the consistency of an icing because it never will. The frosting recipe makes a lot, so you might want to consider halving that part. Or do what I did, and use the remainder to garnish each slice as you cut it. The pictures are what was left of the cake after the first cutting. Don't let that fool you, I only work with 11 other people and only 8 people had a piece today. It will be gone tomorrow! This one is a keeper. Enjoy!



Banana Cake with Caramel Icing

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 1/4 cups sugar
Juice and grated zest of 1 lemon (or 1-2 tsp lemon juice concentrate)
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (about 2 large)
3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup buttermilk

Icing:
1 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup milk
1 (1-pound) package (or 2 cups) of light brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugar. Add lemon juice, zest, and eggs and mix well. Add bananas and mix well. In separate bowl, combine dry ingredients. Add flour mixture to banana mixture alternatively with buttermilk, stirring until just blended. Pour into 3 greased and floured 9x2 round layer-cake pans (or 2 10-inch). Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes (I had to turn the heat down to 325 after about 20 minutes because of browning). Cool in pans. Then invert the pans to remove cakes onto wire racks to finish cooling.

Icing: Place butter, milk, and brown sugar in saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat and add baking powder and vanilla. Mix well. Let sit until cooled. Frost layers and refrigerate cake. The icing will setup a little after it has set in the fridge.