Mini Banana Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a small baking dish, lined with foil (for easy clean up), place the banana(s) and roast for 20 minutes. You should see juices pooling on the bottom of the dish. Carefully peel the bananas and measure out ½ a cup (roughly 4 ounces) of roasted banana. Mash in a small bowl, set aside, and let cool to room temperature.

Keep the oven at 350 degrees F (as it was for roasting the banana). And grease and line an 8×8-inch baking pan. (See below in the “NOTES” section for other baking pan alternatives).

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand-up mixer with the whisk attachment (alternatively you can do this in a large bowl with an electric mixer), add the egg whites and beat on medium for 2 minutes or until it is foamy. Pour in the sugar, increase the speed to medium-high, and beat for another 2 minutes or until it becomes opaque white and starts to look slightly airy. You’re not making meringue, so no need to look for “peaks.”

Replace the whisk attachment with a paddle if using a stand mixer and turn the mixer to low. Add in the butter, oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and mashed banana and mix until incorporated. Add the dry mixture and beat until combined and smooth.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth it out until it reaches the sides. Transfer to the oven to bake for 25 to 32 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

Allow the cake to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes and then invert onto a cooling rack and cool to room temperature. It’ll probably take a good hour.

In the bowl of a stand-up mixer with the paddle attachment (or a medium bowl using an electric hand mixer), add the cream cheese and beat it until smooth. I like to do this or else the cream cheese frosting will have little clumps of cream cheese. Next, add the butter and beat it until smooth, about 15 seconds.

Add the powdered sugar, salt, and vanilla extract. Beat for a full 2 minutes to ensure fluffy, delicious frosting.

If you want to make little bananas, here’s what you need to do: reserve about 1/4 cup of frosting to one bowl. And then add 2 tablespoons to a second bowl. We’re going to add a coloring to both of those frostings.

Then, add the 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder to the frosting and beat it one last time until combined.

If you don’t want to make the bananas, you can obviously skip removing some of the frosting and just proceed with adding the powder, etc.

Add a drop or two of yellow food coloring to the 1/4 cup of frosting. This is going to be for our bananas. Mix it together until smooth. Transfer it to a piping bag fitted with a #3 round piping tip.

Add 1 to 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder to 2 tablespoons of frosting. This is going to be our banana stems and bottoms. Mix it together until smooth. Add a little more if it’s not darker than the cocoa frosting for the cake. Transfer it to a piping bag fitted with a #1 round piping tip.

Add the frosting to the top of the cake and smooth it out into an even layer. Make it cute with some swoops.

If you didn’t do the bananas above, no biggie. Top it with some sprinkles OR leave it as is. It’s cute.

To add the bananas, pipe on half-moons; they’ll end up looking like bananas once we add the tops. Add as many as you like. Make them any size you like, too.

Pipe on two little dots, one on either end to transform them from half-moons to bananas. Use a wet finger to smooth down any point tips on the brown stems and bottoms.

I keep this cake at room temperature on my counter. I don’t own a glass cake cover so I use a colander. This cake is delicious for about 2 to 3 days. If my way leaves you unsettled, you can always place the cake back into the 8×8-inch baking dish and cover it with plastic wrap.