Anyone remember Davidson's Bakery's banana cake?

This is a childhood memory that comes back every so often. They had a banana layer cake, maybe 3 layers with banana buttercream. It was especially light - nowhere near the density of a banana bread. I've never found anything similar. Anyone remember it or know of another bakery with something similar?

I (fondly) remember that cake as well as their chocolate eclairs. To me they are the gold standard. Oh, how I miss Davidson's.

As a middle-schooler I could polish off a whole cake in a couple of days (or less). I was not a big milk drinker but somehow that cake demanded a cold glass of milk on the side.

Banana cake connesieurs

Where do you go for your banana cake needs now? I'm always looking for recs for my banana cake loving friend. I'm no expert but she seemed to enjoy the one I ordered from Bittersweet.

Thanks
Wendy

I just make my own, personally. A simple vanilla cake with plenty of mashed ripe banana, bittersweet chocolate chips, and a cream cheese frosting. Maybe a bit heavier than the cake of yore (it was before my time) but awfully good.

Baked goods from Davidson's are often mentioned as most-missed Chicago foods (most recently in this thread). They were known for many items, including a famous cheesecake.


I just learned an interesting bit of Chicago food trivia. The brother-in-law of Davidson's owner was also in the baking business. Around 1950 Charles Lubin opened a bakery in Chicago and named it after his daughter. Like Davidson's, his bakery was known for their cheesecake. His daughter's name was Sara Lee.

I'd think this would be fairly easy to create at home.

Make any sort of light cake - sponge, etc.

Make a buttercream adding mashed bananas. Here's one recipe but there are many online:

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/22080 ... -frosting/

the common theme seems to be mashed bananas and lemon juice.

Assemble, or if you want to get creative add sliced bananas, and/or chocolate in some form.

That would seem to be pretty much it. Maybe use a creme pat. or some whipped cream (with a bit of gelatin for stability) for the filling to mix things up a bit. You could add chopped chocolate to the filling.

chicagojim wrote:I'd think this would be fairly easy to create at home.

Make any sort of light cake - sponge, etc.

Make a buttercream adding mashed bananas. Here's one recipe but there are many online:

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/22080 ... -frosting/

the common theme seems to be mashed bananas and lemon juice.

Assemble, or if you want to get creative add sliced bananas, and/or chocolate in some form.

That would seem to be pretty much it. Maybe use a creme pat. or some whipped cream (with a bit of gelatin for stability) for the filling to mix things up a bit. You could add chopped chocolate to the filling.

No, the cake was definitely darker than a simple sponge/white cake, not banana bread-dark, but even to my limited elementary school palate it was a banana flavored cake.

spinynorman99 wrote:

chicagojim wrote:I'd think this would be fairly easy to create at home.

Make any sort of light cake - sponge, etc.

Make a buttercream adding mashed bananas. Here's one recipe but there are many online:

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/22080 ... -frosting/

the common theme seems to be mashed bananas and lemon juice.

Assemble, or if you want to get creative add sliced bananas, and/or chocolate in some form.

That would seem to be pretty much it. Maybe use a creme pat. or some whipped cream (with a bit of gelatin for stability) for the filling to mix things up a bit. You could add chopped chocolate to the filling.

No, the cake was definitely darker than a simple sponge/white cake, not banana bread-dark, but even to my limited elementary school palate it was a banana flavored cake.

Something like this (with buttercream instead of the cream cheese):

https://www.google.com/search?q=banana+ ... gEM:&vet=1

Getting warmer. Texture was very light, like a moist yellow cake.

I made this banana cake recently and it was one of the best cakes I have ever made.
Could it have been something like this?
http://www.gatherandfeast.com/banana-vanilla-layer-cake

Diane wrote:I made this banana cake recently and it was one of the best cakes I have ever made.
Could it have been something like this?
http://www.gatherandfeast.com/banana-vanilla-layer-cake

No, but it looks amazing.