Banana Cake w/ Cream Cheese Frosting

I hit a wall. I honestly could not decide on what to bake. I had a day full of nothing to do, yet I felt so uninspired. But thanks to an excess of quickly ripening bananas and soon to go bad buttermilk, my choice was made for me.

A cake turned out to be perfect because my mom's birthday is tomorrow. No joke, no "April Fool's", it really is her birthday. I decided to make it in a rectangle instead of my usual layered cake look. I haven't made a one layer cake in a long time so this seemed appropriate. It's a good thing I did this actually, because the cake ended up being so moist, soft, and delicate, that it would never have stood up to being layered and cut into.

I ended up making a few substitutions in this cake. I barely had enough flour, but then I ran out of sugar. Sigh, so I subbed in dark brown sugar but for half the amount I needed. I'm not sure why I thought this was a good idea... I also ran out of vanilla. Well, I thought I did. I then found an unopened bottle later while the cake was cooling. But for a substitute, I used maple syrup. Yeah, I guess i got a little wacky while making this.

Why is there an odd cut out to this cake? Because I was impatient. Because I was hungry. Because it smelled and looked so good. I think you can figure out what happened...

I should make myself a mental post-it note. All things banana baked are best eaten when completely cool or the next day. If I can't remind myself, will you? I devoured a ton of it warm, but really I liked it sooo much better cooled or the next day when the flavor really settled and got gooey.

This cake was really good! I must warn you that it is soooo addicting, though. But I mean there are bananas in it so it has to be good for you, right? I do wish I would have put walnuts in it. However, I knew if I did my dad wouldn't touch it. There's no guaranteeing he'll eat it as is anyway, but this just seemed safer.

Banana Cake w/ Cream Cheese Frosting
from Recipezaar

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups bananas, mashed, ripe (I used 2 1/2 bananas)
2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
2 1/8 cups sugar (I used 1 sugar granulated, 1/2 dark brown. Don't do this haha)
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla (I used 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, the rest maple syrup)
1 1/2 cups buttermilk

Frosting
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/2 cups icing sugar (I used a whole bag, 4 cups)

Garnish
chopped walnuts (I wish I used them=()

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 275°.
2. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 pan.
3. In a small bowl, mix mashed banana with the lemon juice; set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
5. In a large bowl, cream 3/4 cup butter and 2 1/8 cups sugar until light and fluffy.
6. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then stir in 2 tsp vanilla.
7. Beat in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk.
8. Stir in banana mixture.
9. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven for one hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. (Liesssss! My cake definitely took 1 1/2 hours or more haha)
10. Remove from oven and place directly into the freezer for 45 minutes. This will make the cake very moist. (Huh, I guess I didn't read this part of the recipe because I didn't do this... haha. You'll be fine if you don't.)
11. For the frosting, cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth.
12. Beat in 1 teaspoon vanilla.
13. Add icing sugar and beat on low speed until combined, then on high speed until frosting is smooth.
14. Spread on cooled cake.
15. Sprinkle chopped walnuts over top of the frosting, if desired.