This recipe for banana cake is a family favorite and was known in my dad's family to belong to their Grams (my dad's paternal grandmother). During my genealogy research, I found that the recipe actually went even further back than that. Grams likely got the recipe from her aunt, Marie Lucas (Havelka) as I found that Marie had published it in the 1940 Lawndale Chapter Book of Recipes. It reads: Cream two teacups sugar with one-fourth pound of butter, add four small bananas, mashed fine, two beaten eggs, stir well, then add one cup sour milk or cream in which one level teaspoon soda is dissolved, two teacups flour, and last, one cup nut meats chopped fine. Bake in loaf or three layers and put together with any desired filling. Marie was born in 1871 in Bohemia, Czechoslovakia and immigrated to the United States in 1887 when she was 16.
This is Marie in 1952. She was 81 at the time.
The recipe we have today contains all the same ingredients and measurements, but the order in which they are mixed/added is different. It says to cream the butter, sugar, and eggs. Put the soda in the sour cream. Add dry ingredients, then sour cream and nuts. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes - 1 hour. I've always baked it in a 9x13 pan, but I might try the three layers sometime. We also frost it with a cream cheese frosting. 3 cups powdered sugar, 8 oz. cream cheese, softened, 2 tablespoons butter, melted, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Combine all and beat until smooth. This cake is so moist and has such a great flavor!
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