The Most Fabulous Banana Cake - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 cup banana, mashed
1 2/3 cups caster sugar
2 eggs
125 g unsalted butter, in small chunks at room temperature
100 ml buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
toasted pecans (optional)
ICING
250 g cream cheese, at room temperature
125 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
500 g icing sugar, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 180\u00b0C Butter and flour a 26cm deep ring tin.
ut the flour, baking powder,salt, and bicarb in a food processor and whiz them to combine. Tip the mixture out into a bowl.
Mash the bananas an measure out 1 cup of banana pulp. Scrape this into the food processor and puree it until smooth. Add the sugar and eggs, and whizz everything together for a minute. Add the butter and whizz it for a minute more, until the mixture is thick and creamy. Now, add the buttermilk and vanilla, and pulse the processor with quick on/off bursts just to mix them inches Finally, add the flour mixture and again mix it in quick bursts, scraping down the sides once or twice, so it's only just combined.
Scoop the batter evenly into the tin and smooth it out evenly. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a fine skewer comes out clean. (Don't be surprised if the cake doesn't rise a lot; it's rather dense.
When it's ready, leave the cake to cool in the tin on a rack for about 7 minutes. Then, gently loosen it around the edges and invert it onto a rack to cool.
While the cake is cooling, make the icing. In a food processor, whiz together the cream cheese and butter so they're well mixed. Add the icing sugar and vanilla and process until smooth.
When the cake is cool, put it onto a serving plate. Split it into two layers by carefully cutting around the circumference with a long, serrated knife. Spread some icing on the bottom layer, then sandwich the two halves back together again. Spread a thick layer of icing all over the cake and smooth it as best you can with a long palette knife.
Serve the cake right away or refrigerate it. It keeps well for up to 5 days. Either leave the top plain or decorate with toasted pecans.