Lemon Banana Walnut Bar Cake

Appa's Birthday called for something special, but something simple and quick as well. These Lemon Banana Walnut Bar Cakes came about as we had all the ingredients handy and I had a 4 year old sous chef raring to go.

She has been exploring marbling, so, she wanted to add food colors and swirl them around to make colorful cakes. But, can leave out coloring in this recipe, if preferred.

Somehow her heart was set on making flower and heart molded chocolate decoration for the cakes. Since we don't make this often, I liked that she got me interested in taking the little extra effort... so, we melted some White Melts (not quite white chocolate, we buy it in bulk food store), added food color and poured into molds to set.




Ingredients
1/3 cup sugar
½ cup Smart Balance Omega™ Light butter
½ cup powdered walnuts
2 medium bananas, mushed
juice of 1 lemon - about 2 Tbsp
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
11/3 cup flour
Food color (optional)

Frosting: Neufchâtel cheese with some black currant jam, or strawberry jam beaten in till fluffy; or, leave out the jam for some plain topping.

Preparation

1. Beat the sugar and butter till fluffy, then beat in the eggs, lemon juice, and mushed bananas;Stir in the powdered walnut
2. Sift together baking soda and the flour and add it a little at a time to the wet mixture, stirring gently with a ladle till well incorporated
3. Fill the batter into the bar cake mold; add a drop of food color in each and swirl it around gently with a fork or small whisk
4. Bake in a 350°F oven for about 20-25 minutes, turning half way through if desired, until toothpick inserted comes out clean
5. Frost as desired and top with the chocolate mold