If you have several ripe bananas sitting around, this banana cake is for you. Banana cake has a tender, buttery crumb that is light and moist, getting most of its flavor and sweetness from the bananas themselves. This easy banana cake recipe will become your newest favorite way to enjoy bananas!
How To Make Banana Cake
Bananas
The most important step to any banana cake recipe is to use spotty, brown and slightly overripe bananas. The more brown spots you have, the better, as they get sweeter and more flavorful over time. I’ve added in a little bit of cinnamon with the dry ingredients to complement the prominent banana flavor in this cake.
The Cake
The base of this cake starts with your simple mix of creamed butter and sugar. I add a couple tablespoons of oil in there to give the cake a moist, tender crumb. After giving these ingredients several minutes in the mixer to get light and airy, you’ll add in your eggs, one at a time, and then the mashed, ripe bananas and the rest of the ingredients.
I like to use buttermilk in my cakes, especially in this banana cake recipe, because it adds a tanginess that complements the sweet banana flavor. If you don’t have buttermilk you can use the same amount of sour cream or a combination of milk and yogurt to get similar results. Either way, dairy is your secret to making this banana cake stand out.
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Cream Cheese Frosting
The cream cheese frosting tastes amazing and gives the cake extra texture, but the cake is delicious on its own so you don’t have to add it. I don’t like a frosting that is overly sweet so I don’t add a lot of powdered sugar, but you can add as much as you like until you get a stiff frosting. If your frosting is still quite runny yet you don’t want to add more sugar, pour the frosting over the cake in the pan and refrigerate it. It will firm up once chilled.
Do Not Overmix
The key to a light, fluffy banana cake is to not overmix your batter. Once you have all your wet ingredients mixed together, add in the sifted dry ingredients and beat just until combined. Do not overmix. The less you mix, the lighter your final cake will be and that is what makes this banana cake one of the best in the world.
To take this banana cake one step further, at this point you can fold in any optional mix-ins you’d like. My favorites are chocolate chips or toasted walnuts, just like in my Chocolate Chip Banana Bread recipe.
More Banana Recipes:
- Banana Pancakes
- Banana and White Chocolate Blondies
- Nutella Stuffed Banana Muffins
- Banana Cream Pie
- Easy Peasy Banoffee Pie
- Banana Nutella Cake
Banana Cake
Ingredients
- 2 ¾ cups (385g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup (170g) unsalted butter , softened to room temperature
- 2 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (100g) light or dark brown sugar
- 4 large eggs , at room temperature
- 4 large ripe bananas
- 1 ¼ cups (300ml) buttermilk, at room temperature
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- Cream Cheese Frosting
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Grease a 9×13-inch pan.
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In a medium bowl sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set it aside.
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In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter, sugar, and oil on medium speed for 3-4 minutes until fluffy. Scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl occasionally. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add mashed bananas, buttermilk, and vanilla extract and beat until combined. With the mixer on low speed, add half of the dry ingredients and beat just until combined, then add the rest of the dry ingredients and beat just until combined. Do not overmix, the less you mix, the lighter the cake will be.
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Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 35-45 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow to cool to room temperature. Frost cake with cream cheese frosting.
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Store cake in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Tyas says
I couldn’t wait until it properly cools down to sneak a bite… SO GOOD!! Can’t wait til it cools down and I can put the cream cheese frosting!
Joanne says
I tried the recipe twice, and every time after put the banana in, the batter broke ( oil and water separated). How you tell me how to fix the problem? Thank you, and I really like all of your recipes.
Shiran says
Try using room temperature ingredients, it can help. Still, if it breaks, that’s ok. Once adding the flour, it should all come together.
Joanne says
I tried to make it again with your advices and it turned out pretty well😄😄😄
Thank you so much!!!
This is the best banana cake ever👍🏻
Phyl says
This is the best banana cake ever !! Moist and delicious !! I did not use the cream cheese frosting, but will the next time I make it !! I just mixed some confectionary sugar and water to make a thin glaze frosting and spread it on the cake when it was almost cool !!
CICILY K says
Hi Stephanie,
What can i replace buttermilk with? Not keen on using dairy products. Allergic to it.
Stephanie @ Pretty.Simple.Sweet. says
Hi Cicily, for a dairy-free buttermilk alternative, you could try a yogurt made from coconut milk. It will have a similar acidity and still have fat in it as well to produce a nice tender texture. I have not personally tried this substitution in this particular recipe.
Grandma Papa says
Help! I need a banana cake recipe for my granddaughters first birthday. It needs to be a cake that I can carve into the upside down type cake that resembles Alice In Wonderland’s cake. where the bottom is gradually smaller than the top. This recipe looks wonderful. and the crumb looks small which is what I need. Do you know if it can be made in 6′”and 8″ rounds that could be stacked and carved? Grandma’s cannot fail 😉
Stephanie @ Pretty.Simple.Sweet. says
Hi Grandma Papa! I haven’t made this as a layer cake, so I cannot speak to it’s carve-ability. I hope your cake turned out great!!
Devika says
Can someone share the correct recipe. The ingredients have sour cream but the method has no mention of it.
Stephanie @ Pretty.Simple.Sweet. says
Hi Devika! You’ll see in the post, it says “If you don’t have buttermilk you can use the same amount of sour cream or a combination of milk and yogurt to get similar results.”