Banana Poppy Seed Cake with Vanilla Bean Frosting

No gluttony, no sneaking around, no guilt here.  This is an old fashioned, kitchen table, slam the screen door, put your feet up and set a spell kind of cake.  A wholesome, whip it up in a jiffy and eat it any time of the day or night kind of cake.  Low to the ground, nothing to hide.  An unassuming little 8x8 inch square made with a mere cup of flour.  Slathered with an honest lashing of cream cheese and vanilla bean goodness. 

What you see is what you get: a couple of mashed ripe bananas...

a little sour cream

 a whole lot of poppy seeds

a virtual galaxy of vanilla bean specs

a dab of cream cheese

sweet butter

and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Banana Poppy Seed Cake                      ~~~adapted from ButterYum
oven to 350

2 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup sour cream

1 large egg

2 ripe bananas, mashed

1/2 cup poppy seeds

1 Tbsp vanilla extract 

1 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• Cream the butter, sugar and sour cream together.  Beat in the egg, bananas and vanilla. (Make sure the bananas are completely mashed smooth first)
• Sift the flour, salt and baking soda into the wet mixture.  Mix together just until thoroughly combined.  Fold in the poppy seeds.
• Spread the batter into a greased 8x8 square baking pan.  I lined mine with tin foil so I could remove it easily for a neater presentation and cutting.
• Bake for about 25 minutes until a toothpick just comes out clean.
• Cool before frosting.

Vanilla Bean Frosting
3-4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature (about half the 8 oz package)
2 Tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
the seeds from 1 vanilla bean
2 cups confectioner's sugar, sifted
milk or cream for thinning the icing
a squeeze of fresh lemon juice

•  Mix everything together until you have a thick, creamy, spreadable frosting.  Taste to adjust your lemon juice.  
• Heap onto the completely cooled banana cake and swirl it around thickly.

Notes:  There's a lot going on in this simple, old fashioned cake.  What makes it special?   A more pronounced than usual banana presence, for one thing.  The poppy seeds add crunch and visual interest, and then the tangy cream cheese frosting gives it a final zip.  And real vanilla bean makes anything special.

'Nuf said.



One year ago today---

Easy Microwave Fudge