Blueberry Banana Cake with Citrus Buttercream
Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Intermediate12
servings35
minutes45
minutesThis recipe is adapted from Bake From Scratch. I made this several times and for some reason in the original recipe the frosting fell flat in flavor and overpowered the cake. I tweaked the recipe of the cake and frosting and found a much better result. My crew of tasters agreed. This cake is delicious and we felt can be made the day before and refrigerated overnight as the flavor was better. I tried this using orange zest, Grand Mariner and orange marmalade and they all worked to different degrees. After the cakes cake out of the oven and were cooling on a rack, I brushed each layer with a touch of grand mariner. I also added orange zest to the cake batter and the frosting or add a couple teaspoons Grand Mariner to the frosting. I also made it once and added a touch or orange marmalade between the layers.
I found with this recipe it makes pretty thick 9 inch cakes and so I use 3 8 inch pans instead. You can also make loaves out of this without the frosting. The loaves will not cook as long.
Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
2 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups flour + 1 1/2 Tablespoons flour, divided
3/4 oat flour, Bob’s Red Mill
1/3 cup quick cooking oats
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups ripe bananas, about 4-6 very ripe bananas
1 cup whole fat buttermilk, room temperature
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
1 Tablespoon orange zest
1 Tablespoon Grand Marnier
3-4 Tablespoons good Orange Marmalade, option (to go between cakes on top of frosting)
- Citrus Buttercream
2 cups butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 pounds powdered Sugar (1 bag of C & H)
1/2 cup whole buttermilk
2 Teaspoons orange zest, optional
2 teaspoons vanilla or Grand Mariner, GM optional but does improve flavor
1/2 cup fresh blueberries to decorate the top
Cake Directions
- Preheat oven to 350. Spray 2 (9 inch) or 3 (8 inch) pans with baking spray with flour and use parchment disks for the bottom.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar at medium speed until fluffy. About 4 minutes, scrape sides down periodically. Add eggs, one at a time and continue to beat well after each egg. Beat in the vanilla.
- In a large bowl, whisk together 2 3/4 cups flour, oat flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger. In a lg glass liquid measuring cup mash bananas and buttermilk. Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with banana mixture. Beginning and ending with the flour mixture, beating until just combined after each addition.
- Toss blueberries remaining 1 1/2 Tablespoon flour and orange zest in a bowl. Gently fold the blueberries into the cake batter. Divide the batter between prepared pans. tap pans against counter to release air bubbles.
- Bake until wooden toothpick comes out clean about 40-50 minutes. Allow to cakes to cool in pan for 10 minutes. Removes cakes from pan and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
- OPTIONAL Brush cakes while still warm with 1 Tablespoon Grand Mariner.
- Frosting
- Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat butter and salt at medium speed until creamy about 1 minute. With mixer on low speed slowly add the powdered sugar alternating with the buttermilk. Beat in the vanilla or and Grand Mariner. Increase mixer to medium, and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
- Place the cake on a cake platter and frost the first layer with a lot of frosting. Add the marmalade if you want to the top of the frosting and cover with top layer. Finish frosting the whole cake. Decorate with extra blueberries.
