Banana Rum Birthday Cake!

My treat to my staff on their birthdays is to make them any kind of cake they would like. My receptionist hates chocolate (What??? How???) so I decided to make a cake from the Joy the Baker cookbook. The other recipe that I have posted on here (Trail mix cookies) was fantastic so I had high hopes. I did substitute my own cream cheese frosting for Joy's brown sugar frosting because Teresa loves cream cheese frosting. The cake did not disappoint. It was moist and very flavorful. Like fancy frosted banana bread. Perfect for those weirdos out there that don't like chocolate.

Ingredients:

3 cups AP flour
2 1/4 tsp Baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 3/4 cups packed brown sugar
4 ripe medium bananas mashed
3 Tbsp Rum
3 large eggs
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs buttermilk
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I omitted these because I accidentally forgot them in the oven and burnt them...fail!)
Frosting ingredients:
4 oz cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
2 Tbsp Rum
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Method:

• Grease and flour two 8 or 9 inch round cake pans.  Set aside.
• In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Set aside.
• In the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and brown sugar.  Mix on medium speed for 3 minutes, until light and fluffy.  Add mashed bananas and rum and blend for another minute, until thoroughly combined.  Add the eggs 1 at a time, beating for 1 minute between each addition.
• With the mixer on low speed, add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture.  Add the buttermilk and beat on low until the mixture just begins to come together.  Add the remaining flour mixture and beat until the mixture is almost entirely incorporated.  Remove the bowl from the mixer and finish blending the ingredients with a spatula.  Fold in the pecans.
• Divide the batter between the cake pans.  Bake for 30 minutes on alternating racks, switching the cakes halfway through baking.  When a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, remove the cake from the oven.  Let cakes rest in the pan for 20 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

• Beat Cream cheese, butter, rum and vanilla together until smooth and gradually add powdered sugar until smooth. Try not to eat with a spoon. Frost cake and enjoy!!