Creamy, Dreamy Banana Cake

This is indeed a creamy, dreamy recipe. I wanted  to make an easy fruit cake so I perused many of my banana bread recipes, as well as fruit cake favorites and came up with this simple, one-layer cake, topped with an out-of-this-world, decadent cream cheese frosting. It took me a few tries to get it right, and I believe the secret to this cake's yumminess is the 4 very ripe bananas I used and that creamy half  cup of sour cream.

One Layer Banana Cake

2 cups AP flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 T unsalted butter softened to room temperature
2 T canola oil
3/4 cups Splenda No Calorie Sweetener (granulated sugar works fine too)
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 egg white, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 very ripe bananas- the browner the better
1/2 cup light sour cream

Frosting
4 oz Neufchatel cheese (low fat cream cheese) softened to room temperature
4 T unsalted butter softened to room temperature
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Pre heat oven to 375 degrees and spray an 8" x 8" pan with cooking spray. I like to buy the disposable aluminum pans that come in packages of three and go on sale quite often. They're easy to transport and you never have to ask friends for your cake pan back.

In medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In small bowl, mash bananas and combine with sour cream. Set aside.

Using an electric hand mixer, beat butter, oil and Splenda until incorporated (2 or 3 minutes). Add eggs, egg white and vanilla. Add half the dry ingredients into the butter/egg mixture and combine. Now add the banana/sour cream mash into the batter and mix until incorporated. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Try not to overmix.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 40-45 minutes. Allow to cool on wire rack and prepare the frosting.

In separate bowl, with hand mixer or a sturdy spoon, combine Neufchatel, butter and vanilla extract. When incorporated, add the confectioners' sugar and mix until frosting is smooth. When cake is cooled, frost that little darling and slice yourself a little goodness. I like to cut 9 slices per cake. Twelve seems a bit chincy, and six is a bit over the top.

The re-mix: #1-Sprinkle crushed nuts to the frosting. #2-I can't wait to try this recipe with strawberries and bananas. I think it might work. Plus strawberries have been on sale lately and that is always a plus. #3-And then I had the carrot cake thought. Might experiment a little with that. I'll keep you posted.