The softest Banana Cake I've ever tasted

I have some very riped bananas sitting idly on my dining table and started my search for a more unique recipe rather than the old classic banana cake. However my favourite recipe website, The Repressed Pastry Chef made a rather convincing posting on banana cake with cream cheese frostings that prompted me to give this old boring cake a try. Of course she never fails to impress me with her words and surely, this recipe is heavenly for a non-banana cake lover like me. The texture is so closed (my DH said it's even better) to the banana cake sold by the downtown famous Hiap Joo bakery shop in Jalan Tan Hiok Nee. Those living in Johor Bahru would know which bread shop I'm talking about.

The original recipe from RecipeZaar calls for the cake to be frozen for 45 min straight from the oven. I think no clear mind would follow this step as it means disaster for your poor hardworking fridge, and so I omit this step but the result is still promising. As I'm using microwave oven (MO) to bake and my MO doesn't have the temperature setting button required in the recipe, I baked the cake at 130 degree Celcius for 70 min and 150 degree for 10 min (it's the low temp baking that contribute to the moist and soft texture of the cake).

Here's the recipe that I've modified on the contents and technique. This cake is so yummy that I baked it consecutively for 2 days. However, I did not frost the cake with cream cheese as my DH dislike frosting and also for the second time round due to time constraint (so I decorated it with can peaches).

Ingredients:

1 cup mashed bananas (mix 1 or 2 tsp of lemon juice to prevent from browning)

2 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

120g butter - room temperature

1 1/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs or 2 medium eggs + 1 yolk

2 tsp vanilla essence

240ml buttermilk (or 230ml milk + 1 tbsp lemon juice or 1/2 plain yogurt + 1/2 milk)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven at 135o Celcius.

2. Grease and flour 8 inch round pan.

3. Sift flour, baking soda and salt. Put aside.

4. Cream butter and sugar till light and fluffy (high speed).

5. Beat in the eggs one at a time till incorporate. Add in vanilla.

6. Beat in flour mixture and buttermilk alternately starting and ending with flour till combined. It is important not to overbeat the mixture.

7. Stir in banana.

8. Bake for 60 min or skewer comes out clean. Cool the cake for 10 min in the pan before invert it out for further cooling.

9. Enjoy it!