Blue-Ribbon Banana Cake

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Bananas are surprisingly popular in Amish kitchens. You wouldn’t think a fruit more typically associated with the tropics would enjoy a deep culinary history with the Amish. But, bananas ship well, and that makes all the difference. Especially when it comes to bananas going into recipes like this Blue-Ribbon Banana Cake! (the only place in the tropics, where fruits like bananas, grapefruit, etc could grow, that the Amish live in the US would be in Florida)

First, though,  for much of the 20th century, most Amish either sourced their own food at home, meaning they grew it, or raised it. But they would also go to local generally Amish-owned neighborhood “grocery store. Now, these are not your local Safeway or Kroger Marketplace. These little groceries often tucked away into an outbuilding or basement of a house. These little groceries specialized in bulk foods, like flour in 20 pound sacks, chocolate chips, and other baking essentials. You could also buy boxes of oranges, and bananas, both fruits would be considered treats and they ship well.

Even today most Amish settlements have these small community "grocery stores." The Amish are, however, more mobile these days so the little groceries face the same competition from Walmart and Kroger that other smaller non-Amish groceries feel.

Now, back to bananas...of course, what do you do when the bananas begin to go bad? Well, those ripe beauties can go into banana bread, pudding, and then there’s also this prize winning blue ribbon banana cake. Man, this was good. Had peanut butter frosting and, yeah, it’s been a hit in our house. The recipe was given to me by a Mennonite woman in Virginia years ago.

These bananas were getting ripe and once they start to turn brown, forget it, my kids won't eat them. But they had zero problem eating banana cake.

I tried to mash the heck out of the bananas before putting them into the batter, but still don't feel like I did a great job.

My little kitchen helper giving the batter a good stir!

I could have stopped right here and just eaten the batter. The batter tasted amazing.

The peanut butter frosting was thick and amazing on this cake, complemented the banana taste perfectly. I can see why this is blue-ribbon banana cake!

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• 🍌 Blue-Ribbon Banana Cake
• 📋 Cake Instructions
• 🍌 More Amish Recipes with Bananas
• 🖨️ Cake Recipe

🍌 Blue-Ribbon Banana Cake

• ¾ cup shortening
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup mashed bananas
• 2 cups flour
• 1 /2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 /2 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Peanut Butter Frosting

• 2 cups of peanut butter
• 2 cups of confectioners sugar
• 1 cup of milk (adjust to desired consistency
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

📋 Cake Instructions

1. Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs and beat 2 minutes.
2. Add banana.
3. Add dry ingredients alternately with buttermilk and vanilla.
4. Beat 2 more minutes and pour into greased, floured 9 X 13 inch pan.
5. Bake at 375 for 25 to 30 minutes.

FROSTING: In a bowl, mix peanut butter, milk, and sugar. You will need to adjust milk and sugar according to the consistency you prefer. Stir in vanilla and brown sugar after you've reached desired. consistency. Spread onto cooled cake.

🍌 More Amish Recipes with Bananas

Basic Banana Bread - Delicious!

Banana Muffins - Wonderful!

Frosted Banana Bars - So good!

Blueberry Banana Bread - Wow!

🖨️ Cake Recipe