A few weeks ago I saw yet another recipe from the LA Times Culinary SOS Column that I knew I had to try. First, the recipe was for a banana cake with cream cheese frosting. It's hard to see how you can go wrong there. But what really caught my eye was the fact that the recipe was from Clementine in Los Angeles. Even though my parents live in Los Angeles and I go there pretty regularly, I have never been to Clementine. Nonetheless, I have a soft spot in my heart for the place since their scone recipe that was published in the April 27, 2005, Culinary SOS Column is one of my absolute favorites. (You can read a post about my experience with that scone recipe here.)
The banana cake recipe is pretty straightforward; the cake itself contains no butter but includes both buttermilk and canola oil. Also, the recipe specifies pastry flour, for which I substituted White Lily all-purpose flour (which has a low protein content similar to pastry flour) instead. The frosting is made from cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and sour cream. The resulting combination is extremely moist, not very sweet, and has a pronounced tangy finish. It's a very basic cake that is a cinch to make. But sometimes going back to basics is the best!
Recipe: "Clementine Bakery's Banana Cake," Los Angeles Times, August 13, 2008.
The banana cake recipe is pretty straightforward; the cake itself contains no butter but includes both buttermilk and canola oil. Also, the recipe specifies pastry flour, for which I substituted White Lily all-purpose flour (which has a low protein content similar to pastry flour) instead. The frosting is made from cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar and sour cream. The resulting combination is extremely moist, not very sweet, and has a pronounced tangy finish. It's a very basic cake that is a cinch to make. But sometimes going back to basics is the best!
Recipe: "Clementine Bakery's Banana Cake," Los Angeles Times, August 13, 2008.
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