Banana-Sour Cream Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting

Crafty Lady 13's Note:

I got this recipe from the Kraft Food and Family magazine. Each bit of this unbelievable cake brims with the sweet flavor of ripe bananas and a nutty walnut crunch. Plus, it gets a head start from a boxed cake mix to save you time. Time to make does not include cooling time.

• Total Time: 55 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 35 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 16

• 1 (18 ounce) package yellow cake mix (2-layer size)
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup ripe banana, mashed (about 3 bananas)
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup oil

FROSTING

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 (16 ounce) package powdered sugar
• 1 cup walnuts, finely chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Grease and flour 13 x 9-inch baking pan; set aside.
3. Beat cake mix, eggs, bananas, sour cream and oil in a large bowl with electric mixer on low speed just until moistened, stopping frequently to scrape bottom and side of bowl.
4. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan.
6. Bake for 35 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
7. Cool completely in pan on wire rack.
8. Beat cream cheese and butter in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended.
9. Gradually add powdered sugar, beating after each addition until well blended.
10. Remove cake from pan, cut crosswise in half.
11. Place one cake half, top-side down, on large serving plate.
12. spread top with frosting.
13. Top with remaining cake half, top-side up.
14. Frost top and sides of cake with remaining frosting.
15. Carefully press walnuts into frosting on side of cake.
16. Store any leftovers in refrigerator.
17. Tip: Neatly frost this cake by freezing cake layers about 20 minutes before frosting.
18. This helps to set the crumbs on the cut edges of the cake layers so they don't pull up into the frosting.
19. Don't worry if the frosting doesn't look perfect on the sides of the cake; the walnuts will cover any imperfections.

Reviews

[JanuaryBride]

Downright amazing cake that couldn't be easier. Mine was super light and delicious. Used light sour cream with great results. Did not frost ours, simply dusted it with some powdered sugar. I made 12 cupcakes and 1 eight inch round cake. . .both were done in 25 minutes. This is a keeper.

[newmama]

I didn't make this, but my aunt did and brought it over, it was wonderfully flavored and moist. I might up the banana to 1 1/2 cups because we like a lot of banana taste, but it was fine as is! It was dense and the frosting stands up well to the texture. My dh had it and said he liked it better than my from scratch cheesecake I had made a few days before. Even though I was a little bummed (come on, a boxed cake mix?!) It's nice to know something so good is so easy to make!

[Erin R.]

Marvelous, dense cake. I had a chocolate cake mix in the pantry so I used that, and instead of walnuts I stirred a few spoonfuls of peanut butter into the frosting. Mine took about 45 minutes to bake completely through in a bundt pan. The banana taste was very pronounced, and the cake got demolished at the barbecue we just came from. Also, this recipe lends itself very well to "healthifying" as I used non-fat sour cream, lower fat cream cheese and only about 1 tablespoon of butter in the frosting. Much lower in calories and still so delicious that nobody even noticed. An excellent addition to the recipe book.