This is my all-time favorite banana cake recipe, made completely from scratch! Perfectly flavored with extra bananas, soft, fluffy, moist, and topped off with a silky smooth cream cheese frosting and chopped walnuts, this is the banana cake of your dreams!
This recipe is a result of many, many emails and comments from so many of you writing to tell me how much you enjoyed my best banana muffins (see, I didn’t call them the “best” for nothing). A few of you wrote to ask me if it would be possible to bake the muffin recipe into a banana cake, but I had a few reservations. I was worried that the original recipe wouldn’t make the best banana cake, and so I started recipe testing to develop the perfect moist cake.
I went through a lot of overripe bananas (and some not-so-ripe ones, in a few moments of desperation), and finally ended up modifying my pumpkin cake (of all things) to land on this winning banana cake recipe.
Soft and fluffy with a tender, moist crumb, this is banana cake perfection. It’s easy to make and is perfectly complemented by a liberal topping of cream cheese frosting.
For this banana cake, I used a variation of my favorite cream cheese frosting that I shared the other day. Today’s recipe uses a bit less sugar and has you whip heavy cream into the frosting so that it’s smooth and silky.
This variation is much less sturdy than my other recipe and isn’t one that I recommend for your standard cake or cupcake, but it suits this cake perfectly (no piping required here!).
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Tips for Making Banana Cake
- The riper your bananas the better! I prefer mine to be mostly brown (which I did not have when I made the video below… food blogger fail), the riper they are the more flavorful your banana cake will be.
- I top the frosting off with chopped walnuts, but if you’d like you can also bake walnuts or pecans into the cake, too. About 1 cup of chopped nuts would work nicely in this recipe.
- You can add cinnamon to spice up this cake! I ultimately decided to leave it out for maximum pure banana flavor, but you can add 1/2-3/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon in with the dry ingredients if you’d like.
- When I made this banana cake in my glass baking dish, the top browned faster than I expected it to. Because of this, I’ve included instructions in the recipe to monitor your cake at the 30 minute mark, and if the edges are browning too fast, lightly tent the cake with foil.
Enjoy!
How to Make the BEST Banana Cake
The Best Banana Cake
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter softened to room temperature (170g)
- ¾ cup canola or vegetable oil (175ml)
- 1 cup light or dark brown sugar (200g)
- 1/2 cup sugar (100g)
- 4 ripe bananas, peeled and well-mashed (this is about 2 cups mashed) (470g)
- 2 large eggs lightly beaten room temperature preferred
- ¼ cup buttermilk (60ml)
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (312g)
- 1 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
Silky Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 8 oz cream cheese softened (225g)
- ½ cup unsalted butter softened (113g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2½ cups powdered sugar (315g)
- 1 Tablespoons heavy cream
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts for topping (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and spray a 9x13 pan with baking spray or lightly grease and flour. Set aside.
- Combine butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl and use an electric mixer). Beat until well-combined and light and fluffy.
- Add oil and beat to combine.
- Stir in mashed bananas.
- Add eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla extract and stir until well-combined.
- In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- Gradually add to wet ingredients until completely combined.
- Spread batter into prepared pan and bake on 350F (175C) for 45-55 minutes* or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean with few moist crumbs. Allow to cool completely before covering with frosting.
Silky Cream Cheese Frosting
- Combine cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract, and salt in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until creamy.
- With mixer on low-speed, gradually add powdered sugar until completely combined.
- Add heavy cream and gradually increase speed to high. Beat on high for 30 seconds.
- Spread over completely cooled banana cake. Top with chopped walnuts (if using). Slice and serve!
Notes
Nutrition
Dani says
I’m planning on making this cake for my son to take to school for his birthday. My question is with the cream cheese frosting will the cake need to be refrigerated?
Sugar Spun Run says
Hi, Dani! Cream cheese frosting can sit at room temperature for up to 2 hours, but I recommend refrigerating the it. I hope that your son has a nice birthday. 🙂
Janet says
This is the best!! Very moist & delicious. I would eat it plain if I didn’t have to frost it for the dinner I was taking it to.
I used a snack size container of unsweetened applesauce and coconut oil in place of the vegetable oil without a problem. The only issue I had was that the cake sank in the middle after it cooled. I checked it at 30 min and then reset the timer for another 10 because I thought it was 40-50 total time. Anyway at 40 min it was a beautiful golden brown, bouncy, pulling away from the edges, and tester came out clean, so I took it out. Maybe another 5 and it wouldn’t have sank…
Sugar Spun Run says
I am so glad that you enjoyed the cake, Janet! It could have needed a few additional minutes in the oven or it could also be that the batter was overmixed. Over mixing the batter and incorporating too much air can then cause a collapse. Regardless, I happy that it tasted delicious. 🙂
Lori says
Do I have to use butter milk
Cathy says
Can you sub soured milk for buttermilk?
Sugar Spun Run says
Hello, Cathy! I have personally never tried it, but it should work fine. I hope that you enjoy the banana cake! 🙂
Leialoha McAnally says
Aloha Sam,
Can I substitute a light olive oil for the vegetable oil?
Mahalo, Lei
Sugar Spun Run says
Hello, Leialoha! I recommend a neutral oil like canola or vegetable for this recipe. Olive oil tends to impart a bit of an olive oil taste into the cake. If you don’t mind the taste, it would work. Let me know what you decide to use and how your banana bread turns out! 🙂
debbie says
This REALLY is the BEST banana cake! I almost didn’t make it because I didn’t know if I was in the mood for banana cake vs banana bread. This cake is truly delicious. I used coconut oil for the canola and added 2 T of ground up freeze dried banana. My grand daughter asked me if there was caramel in it, it was so rich and caramely!! Thank you so much for this recipe! It’s a keeper. Also, I am a frosting lover but this was so good I only sprinkled with powdered sugar so as not to mask the great banana taste.
Sam says
Thank you so much, Debbie! I am so glad you enjoyed the banana cake so much! 🙂
Vicki says
Mmmmmmm……..I’ve never had a banana cake better than this one, or even as good, so I think it IS the best banana cake ever! Now, I’m not a frosting person…..the most I’d ever want would be for a layer of icing so thin you could see through it……but I do appreciate that this frosting is not as sweet as most of them. Hubs, though, thinks cake isn’t a cake unless it’s iced, and being the sugar monster that he is, he LOVES this frosting and is more than happy to eat what I scrape off. A great recipe….it will be my go-to when I want to make banana cake! (By the way, the cake was nowhere near done at thirty minutes, and it took to almost forty five minutes before it was done.)
Sam says
I am so happy to hear you enjoyed the banana cake so much, Vicki! The recipe does indicate 45-55 minutes to bake completely, checking at 30 minutes is just in case your oven tends to over-brown (possibly burn) the top. Thank you so much for commenting (and I’ve gotta admit I’m with your husband about cakes and frosting 😉)
Etta Jerkins says
Could this be baked in a bunt pan?
Sam says
Hi Etta! That should work just fine. You will probably get a thicker “crust” to the cake than what is intended. 🙂
Sarah Hibbing says
I just made this….but instinctively felt it minutes was too much, maybe for just my oven. Smelled suspicious at 30 minutes, and when I took the cake out to cover it with foil to prevent over browning, the edges were already caught and the toothpick came out dry! My oven isn’t great and often I need to take things out a little early, but 15 minutes below the minimum… that’s weird! Super glad I trust my nose 🙂
Sam says
Hi Sarah! That is weird. Does you oven run really hot? I’m glad you were able to salvage the cake. 🙂
Erin Gray says
Should this go in the fridge over night?
Sam says
Hi Erin! It should be ok to stay out overnight. Since it has a cream cheese frosting, I would refrigerate it if you wanted to keep it longer than a day or two, or if you are in a really humid climate. Enjoy! 🙂
Kim says
Baked this today. Smells delicious – can not wait for it to cool down to give it a try!!
Sam says
I hope you love it, Kim! 🙂