Cream-Based Banana Frostings

• Banana cream frosting usually contains butter, cream cheese, whipped cream or a combination of these ingredients as a base. Typically, you combine 1 part either butter or cream cheese with 2 to 4 parts powdered sugar by weight, depending on how stiff you want your resulting frosting. Mix in banana extract to taste to give the creamy frosting some banana flavor or stir in some banana pudding mix to thicken the frosting. When making whipped cream-based frosting, combine it with banana pudding mix to sweeten it, add some flavor and thicken it enough to spread on your baked goods.

Real Banana Flavor

• To add some real banana flavor to your frosting, replace one-third to one-half of the butter, cream cheese or whipped cream with mashed bananas. Stir a squeeze of lemon juice to the mashed bananas to keep them from turning brown before gently folding them into the frosting base. Combine mashed bananas, whipping cream and banana pudding powder for an extra-creamy banana cream frosting or filling. Banana frosting is complemented by the addition of vanilla extract, rum or peanut butter. Add a dash of cocoa powder for a chocolate version of the frosting.