We buy the bananas, we don't eat all the bananas...we buy more bananas, we don't eat all the bananas...this is a constant thing in our house.
The bananas sit in the basket until one day I glance at them and they are starting to spot and I promise myself I will eat a banana...tomorrow. Of course, I don't because honestly, a banana only has a very short window of perfection in my opinion and I just can't bring myself to eat a soft banana!
So, the banana(s) sit on the counter a few more days and keep getting darker and darker. What am I going to do with 4 overripe bananas? Make Banana Bread Cream Cheese Swirl Cake with Cinnamon Sugar Buttercream, that's what! I promise you, make this cake and you'll never throw away another overripe banana again...Banana Bread Cream Cheese Swirl Cake with Cinnamon Sugar Buttercream is heaven on a fork!
I really have to thank my husband and my mom for inspiring me to create this recipe. Jeff bought a bunch of bananas several weeks ago and I think we only ate 2-3 of them. I kept looking at those "getting too ripe" bananas and at least 10 times, told myself to throw them out. Then, as if by magic, my mother's voice is in my ear saying..."don't you dare throw them out, they are perfectly good bananas," and I left them be, but we never ate them. And they kept getting darker and darker and finally, I had to do something before they started to mold....yes, they were THAT ripe! I rationalized throwing them out by reminding myself that I have never made a good banana bread, despite several tries...but thanks to Mom, I just couldn't dump them in the trash. Since my attempts at banana bread had gone so wrong in the past, I knew I had to do something different this time. I looked in the fridge and saw a chunk of cream cheese that also was close to being thrown out and then it hit me...combine the banana bread and cheesecake to make a banana bread cream cheese swirl cake.
What kind of icing would go with this....hmmm....something with cinnamon, brown sugar and BUTTER! After all, there is nothing better than warm banana bread with butter and cinnamon sugar sprinkled on top! Only one problem...I didn't have confectioners sugar! I had to try a technique using flour and milk...I've never done that and I was VERY nervous! Nothing ventured, nothing gained...so I jumped in with both feet! Little did I know that I would create one of the best tasting cakes I've ever eaten...Thank God for Mom or those very very ripe bananas would have never made it into this cake and this cake would not exist!
The timing is perfect too, I made the cake just before Mother's Day. What better time to give a shout out to my Mom, Sandra Pantall, who did such a fantastic job raising me and my sister! Thanks, Mom, for all those whispers of advice you let float by my ear. I know I didn't always listen, but I did hear you! Happy Mother's Day!
Now...back to the cake! The CAKE! The wonderfully moist, melt in your mouth Banana Bread Cream Cheese Swirl Cake with Cinnamon Sugar Buttercream! I was working at the assisted living when I made this cake and we didn't have any powdered sugar to make the icing, so I used flour and milk as the thickener and it turned out perfect! I love the texture of this icing and the slight crunch of the brown sugar crumbles! One of my residents, Richard Westcott, tasted the cake and his first words were, "oh, my". When he was done eating his slice, he threw his arms up in the air and said, with great excitement, " Excellent!". He ate another slice after dinner and the next day he asked for more!
This cake is so good, I'm not willing to wait until I collect 4 uneaten and over ripe bananas. I asked Jeff to buy some more bananas today in hopes they become ripe enough to make this cake again next week!
Tip: Put your bananas in a brown paper bag to speed up the ripening process.
*I've had the bananas in a brown bag for 11 days and they are soft and spotted, but not black.
What you'll need for Banana Bread Cream Cheese Swirl Cake
- Flour
- White Sugar
- Eggs
- Butter
- Cream Cheese
- Baking Soda
- Vanilla Extract
- Half & Half
- Salt
- Brown Sugar
- Cinnamon
- *Ingredients shown are for the cake, Cinnamon Sugar Buttercream Icing & brown sugar crumble*
Step One:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Bring all refrigerated ingredients to room temperature. Using the paddle attachment, combine 1 cup of the white sugar and ½ cup butter in bowl of a stand mixer or large mixing bowl if using a hand held mixer. Mix on medium speed until butter and sugar are well combined and become light and fluffy. This usually takes about 3-5 minutes. Peel and add in bananas. Mix until combined. Add 2 eggs and vanilla extract, mix until combined. Add dry ingredients (I forgot to snap a picture!) and mix until combined. Transfer batter to another bowl, if you are using your stand mixer to make the cream cheese batter.
Step Two:
Cream together ½ cup white sugar and 16 ounces of room temperature cream cheese on medium high speed using the paddle attachment on your stand mixer. Add one egg and beat on medium speed until well incorporated in the mixture. Add the second egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, beat on medium until you have a smooth mixture.
Step Three:
Grease and flour your bundt pan really well. I used butter and flour because I made this at work, kind of on the fly, but my favorite go to recipe for pan grease is by Gretchen's Bakery. In fact, if you like to bake...you really have to check her out. I have not made one recipe from her that didn't turn out perfect and I swear by her Swiss Buttercream Recipe! Pour one half of the banana bread batter into the bundt pan and gently spread the batter so it covers the bottom of the bunt pan and extends slightly up the edges. Add ½ the cheese cake batter, keeping it away from the edges of the pan as much as possible. Repeat with rest of banana bread batter and cheese cake. Wrap the edges of your pan with foil so the edges don't over cook and place in preheated oven for 50 minutes or until a knife inserted into the cake comes out with just a few crumbs. * I covered my entire cake with foil after about 40 minutes because it was getting too dark on top.
Step Four:
When the Banana Bread Cream Cheese Swirl Cake is done, remove from oven and allow to sit for at least 5 minutes.then gently run a knife around the edges to loosen any cake that might be sticking to the sides. Allow to cool another 10-15 minutes and invert cake onto cake plate or platter. This cake is perfectly wonderful to eat right now...but if you want to take it to heaven on a fork level, proceed to Step Five!
Step Five:
Make the Cinnamon Sugar Buttercream Icing (click link for recipe). When your Banana Bread Cream Cheese Swirl Cake is completely cool, spread the Cinnamon Sugar Icing on the tops and sides of the cake. I decided to use a brown sugar and butter crumble on top of the icing and loved the little crunch it gave and it jazzed up the look too! I'll include the directions for the topping right here: 2 Tablespoons of butter, ¼ cup of brown sugar. Mix with fork until it resembles coarse crumbles. Sprinkle on top of cake. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Cut into slices and serve! Enjoy!
Banana Bread Cream Cheese Swirl Cake
Ingredients
- 1 ½ Cups white sugar *divided
- ½ Cup Salted Butter
- 4 VERY ripe black bananas
- 4 Eggs
- 1 Tablespoon + 1 Teaspoon vanilla extract *divided
- 2 8ounce packages of cream cheese
- 1 ½ Cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ Teaspoon Salt
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Instructions
Banana Bread Batter
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Bring all refrigerated ingredients to room temperature.
- Using the paddle attachment, combine 1 cup of the white sugar and ½ cup butter in bowl of a stand mixer or large mixing bowl if using a hand held mixer. Mix on medium speed until butter and sugar are well combined and become light and fluffy. This usually takes about 3-5 minutes.
- Peel and add in bananas. Mix until combined.
- Add 2 eggs and vanilla extract, mix until combined.
- Add dry ingredients (I forgot to snap a picture!) and mix until combined.
- Transfer batter to another bowl, if you are using your stand mixer to make the cream cheese batter.
Cheesecake Mixture
- Cream together ½ cup white sugar and 16 ounces of room temperature cream cheese on medium high speed using the paddle attachment on your stand mixer.
- Add one egg and beat on medium speed until well incorporated in the mixture.
- Add the second egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, beat on medium until you have a smooth mixture.
For the cake
- Grease and flour your bundt pan really well.
- Pour one half of the banana bread batter into the bundt pan and gently spread the batter so it covers the bottom of the bunt pan and extends slightly up the edges.
- Add ½ the cheese cake batter, keeping it away from the edges of the pan as much as possible.
- Repeat with rest of banana bread batter and cheese cake.
- Wrap the edges of your pan with foil so the edges don't over cook and place in preheated 325 degrees Fahrenheit oven for 50 minutes or until a knife inserted into the cake comes out with just a few crumbs.
- * I covered my entire cake with foil after about 40 minutes because it was getting too dark on top.
- When cake is done, remove from oven and allow to sit for at least 5 minutes.then gently run a knife around the edges to loosen any cake that might be sticking to the sides.
- Allow to cool another 10-15 minutes and invert cake onto cake plate or platter.
- Cool completely before putting the delicious Cinnamon Sugar Buttercream on the cake!
- Refrigerate until ready to serve
- Enjoy!
Susan
Do you think you could make this as cupcakes or muffins instead of a Bundt cake?
Louise
I'm sure you could, but the temperatures and times would be different. Let me know if you try it!