Mini Cakes

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat 6 nonstick muffin cups (round or heart-shaped) or 5 mini bundt cups (1 cup volume) with nonstick cooking spray. Dust cups with flour.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat sugar and butter at medium speed for 3 minutes, or until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
4. In a small mixing bowl, stir together buttermilk, banana and vanilla.
5. With mixer running, add flour mixture and banana mixtures alternately to the sugar mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat just until combined (do not overmix).
6. Divide batter equally between the prepared pans (see Note on pans below) and bake for around 20 minutes for hearts/muffins or 23 – 25 minutes for mini bundt cakes, until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cake comes out clean.
7. Remove pan from oven and place on a wire rack. After 1 minute, gently run a table knife around the edges of each cake. Leave cakes in pan for another 9 minutes, then gently remove and place on wire rack to cool completely.

Lemon Cream Cheese Glaze

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, butter, lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla and salt at high speed until light and smooth.
2. With mixer on low speed, gradually add the powdered sugar, beating until well blended. For a thinner glaze (like heart cakes in my photos), stop now. For a thicker glaze (like mini bundt cake in my photos), add more powdered sugar.
3. With thinner glaze, I like to brush on top and side of cakes. With thicker glaze, spoon glaze over top of cakes, allowing it to drizzle down the sides.

Serve with Strawberry Topping spooned on top or alongside cakes.