I elevated this by fusing the tastes into a luscious and straightforward cake after being inspired by Elvis Presley’s well-known peanut butter and banana sandwich. Who, however, would want a cake without frosting? Not me! The cake is topped with a rich peanut butter cream cheese frosting, making it a one-of-a-kind confection combining four of my favorite tastes. Elvis would be pleased, I believe!
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 30 mins |
| Additional Time: | 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 1 8-inch layer cake |
Ingredients
- cooking spray
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup white sugar
- ½ cup whole wheat flour
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 large bananas, mashed
- ¾ cup buttermilk
- ½ cup egg whites
- ⅓ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese (such as Philadelphia®)
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter
- ¼ cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 banana, sliced
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease two 8-inch baking pans with cooking spray.
- Combine all-purpose flour, white sugar, whole wheat flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
- Stir mashed bananas, buttermilk, egg whites, applesauce, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract together in a separate bowl. Add gradually to the flour mixture, mixing until batter is just combined.
- Divide batter evenly between the prepared cake pans.
- Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes.
- Combine cream cheese, peanut butter, confectioners’ sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract in a large bowl; beat with an electric mixer until frosting is creamy.
- Run a rubber spatula around the edges of the cooled cakes. Grease a baking sheet lightly with cooking spray. Invert cake pans onto the baking sheet; tap bottoms lightly to release cakes.
- Spread frosting onto the cake layers. Stack layers; frost top and sides. Cut into 8 slices. Garnish with banana slices.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 427 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 64 g |
| Cholesterol | 55 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 4 g |
| Protein | 12 g |
| Saturated Fat | 8 g |
| Sodium | 526 mg |
| Sugars | 32 g |
| Fat | 16 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I just made the peanut butter frosting. YUM!
I had several concerns about this recipe, number one being the method. This recipe uses more of a quick bread method, than a cake method. I also questioned adding whole wheat flour to a cake, and using applesauce, instead of oil or butter. However, I put my concerns aside and followed the instructions and ingredients, to a “T”. My only change was to cool the layers in the pans on a rack about 10 minutes, then turn the layers out onto the rack to cool completely. Next, on to the frosting: I used a traditional method for frosting, placing one layer on the cake stand, frost the layer, stack the next layer, then frost the top and sides. However, when I looked at the proportions of ingredients for the frosting, I had to part company with the submitter, because I knew the recommended amounts would never stretch to cover a 2 layer cake. So, I used 8 oz. cream cheese, 1/2 cup peanut butter, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1 pound of confectioner’s sugar, and 2 Tablespoons milk, and a pinch of salt, creamed together with an electric mixer. This yielded enough frosting to do the cake. The finished results were not really pleasing, and for the time and trouble of baking from scratch, I want a stellar recipe. I could barely detect any chocolate flavor, and the cake was heavy and dense. In a household of 3, I would expect to have cake leftover, so I did not use the sliced bananas on the top, choosing instead to garnish the plates.
I doubled the frosting so it would cover the whole cake.