Old Fashioned Banana Cake

When there is a birthday in my family, the birthday boy or girl gets to pick whatever cake they want. (They also get to do basically whatever they want that day and pick their birthday dinner!) For as long as I can remember, my dad has always picked banana cake. (Well, that or banana cream pie!) I know that a lot of people haven't heard of banana cake, but it really is one of the best things out there! If you have to make a cake for school or church or another function or even for a friend's birthday, try out banana cake and wow your family, friends, and neighbors. Banana cake can be something to add to your cooking repertoire that will remain a staple for years to come.

You will need the following ingredients:

• 2-1/2 cups of sifted flour
• 1-1/4 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1-1/4 teaspoons of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1-2/3 cups of sugar
• 2/3 cup of shortening
• 2/3 cup of buttermilk
• About 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 large eggs
• Whipped cream
• A few more ripe bananas (but not too ripe), sliced

To start off making your cake, sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. If you don't know what sifting is, here is a quick overview. You need a sifter (which can be found in any good kitchen aisle). Mix the ingredients separately in a bowl and then spoon them into the sifter. Then sift those dry ingredients onto a piece of waxed paper. Once you sift all of those ingredients together, resift it all with 1-2/3 cups of sugar.

Once you have all of the dry ingredients sifted, add the buttermilk, shortening, and the three ripe, mashed bananas. Once you've added those ingredients, beat the mixture for about two minutes on high. You want to make sure that the ingredients are all sufficiently combined, but also make sure that you do not mix the batter too much. Add the two large eggs and beat the batter for two more minutes on high.

Pour the banana cake batter into cake pans and bake the batter at 375 degrees for twenty to twenty-five minutes. Once the cakes are finished baking, let them cool thoroughly. You frost this cake different from how you usually frost cakes. Mix up the whipped cream (do it according to however you like whipped cream) and use that as the frosting between the layers. Slice up those extra bananas and put them between each layer with the whipped cream. You don't frost the outside of this cake, like you normally would with other cakes; just leave the whipped cream in between the layers as the frosting.

This cake doesn't sit for long, so you need to serve it as soon as you can. It doesn't store too well because of the whipped cream and the bananas. So, go ahead and make this cake and wow everyone with something completely different!