Remember that time I told you about the best banana cake I’ve ever had?
I enjoyed obsessed over it at a family reunion the other weekend. My cousin made it and I stalked her down like a dessert creep and proceeded to talk her ear off about cream cheese frosting and spotty bananas for 35 minutes straight.
What? You don’t do that at parties?
It was the moistest cake I’ve ever eaten. Stick-to-the-back of your fork moist. The perfect cream cheese frosting, both sweet and tangy, sinking into the top of the cake made it even moister. Sweet, but not overpowering. Mega banana flavor, certainly more banana flavor than any banana bread I’ve ever eaten. Very buttery and cakey from creaming the butter and sugars. Just a ridiculously rich, decadent dessert.
The banana cake was dense, but not heavy. If that makes any sense? (Coming from the lady who talks about rotting bananas at social gatherings, but stick with me here.) The crumb was very soft, but they were tight crumbs. The cake didn’t fall apart when you took a forkful.
She told me this cake comes out perfect every time she makes it. And such perfection is reinforced, she told me, when absolutely everyone who has a slice begs her for the recipe. It is, hands down, the best banana cake I’ve ever had.
And I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.
How to Make Banana Cake
The recipe starts with 1 and 1/2 cups (345g) mashed bananas, or about 4 medium or 3 large ripe bananas (above). Now, make sure those bananas are nice and spotty. The bananas you see above are just right (and it’s what you want for banana bread, chocolate banana bread, and banana muffins, too). More brown spots = sweeter, more banana flavor. Your cake will thank you. I simply mash the bananas in my mixer—the same mixer I use for creaming the butter and sugars. Beat the bananas on high speed for a minute, then transfer to another bowl. I don’t even wash the mixing bowl—just throw the butter right in and start creaming!
Can I Use Frozen Bananas?
Yes and I do this often. Thaw the frozen bananas at room temperature. Drain off any excess liquid, mash, then use as instructed in the recipe below. See How to Freeze & Thaw Bananas for Baking.
Here’s the batter. There will be some lumps.
One more thing to note: buttermilk. As you guessed, buttermilk is the moist-maker in this cake. The cake wouldn’t be what it is without it! You also need the acid in buttermilk to help the baking soda do its job. I rarely have buttermilk in my refrigerator, so I always sour whole milk instead. For this recipe, you need 1 and 1/2 cups of buttermilk. If you don’t keep buttermilk on hand either, you can make this buttermilk substitute: measure 1 Tablespoon of fresh lemon juice or white vinegar. Pour into a liquid measuring cup. Then add enough whole milk until it reaches 1 and 1/2 cups. Stir together, let it sit for 5 minutes, then use in the recipe. To keep the cake extra rich, I recommend whole milk when you are souring milk.
Is this not the silkiest and smoothest cream cheese frosting you’ve ever seen? Well, it’s the silkiest and smoothest cream cheese frosting I’ve ever tasted! It’s pretty similar to our cream cheese frosting that we use for carrot cake, but there’s a little less cream cheese for the amount of butter. So, this makes the frosting a little more silky. And definitely more buttery!
There’s also a lot of cream cheese frosting. When you begin slathering it onto the cake, you’ll probably go “Sally, this is way too much frosting!” But it’s not. You want a nice thick layer. It’s essential.
If you love baking with brown butter, the brown butter cream cheese frosting from my zucchini cake would be fantastic here. If you are not into cream cheese frosting or just want to try something different, try it with traditional vanilla buttercream, this salted caramel frosting, or even white chocolate buttercream frosting instead. All are seriously delicious combinations!
The best banana cake I’ve ever had. We love it so much we turned it into a chocolate marble banana Bundt cake and banana cupcakes, too. And if you can’t get enough sheet cakes, you’ll want to try this fresh apple cake next!
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The Best Banana Cake I’ve Ever Had
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 5 hours (includes cooling)
- Yield: serves 12
- Category: Cake
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This is absolutely the best banana cake I’ve ever had! It’s supremely moist with cream cheese frosting, tons of banana, brown sugar, and cinnamon flavor.
Ingredients
Banana Cake
- 1 and 1/2 cups (345g) mashed bananas (about 4 medium or 3 large bananas)
- 3 cups (375g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/2 cups (360ml) buttermilk, at room temperature*
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 8 ounces (226g) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3 cups (360g) confectioners’ sugar, plus an extra 1/4 cup if needed
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and grease a 9×13-inch pan.
- Make the cake: Mash the bananas. I usually just use my mixer for this! Set mashed bananas aside.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and both sugars on medium-high speed until creamed together, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula as needed. Add the eggs and the vanilla. Beat on medium-high speed until combined, then beat in the mashed bananas. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. With the mixer running on low speed, add the dry ingredients in 3 additions, alternating with the buttermilk and mixing each addition just until incorporated. Do not overmix. The batter will be slightly thick and a few lumps is OK.
- Spread batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 45–50 minutes. Baking times vary, so keep an eye on yours. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If you find the top of the cake is browning too quickly in the oven, loosely cover it with aluminum foil.
- Remove the cake from the oven and set on a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely. After about 45 minutes, I usually place it in the refrigerator to speed things up.
- Make the frosting: In a large bowl using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter together on high speed until smooth and creamy. Add 3 cups confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, and salt. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to high speed and beat for 2 minutes. If you want the frosting a little thicker, add the extra 1/4 cup of confectioners sugar (I add it). Spread the frosting on the cooled cake. Refrigerate for 30 minutes before serving. This helps sets the frosting and makes cutting easier.
- Cover leftover cake tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Prepare cake through step 6. Cover the cake tightly and refrigerate for up to 2 days or freeze for up to 3 months. Bring to room temperature, make the frosting, frost, and serve. Frosted or unfrosted cake freezes well, up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, bring to room temperature, and then frost if needed and serve.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9×13-inch Pan | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Cooling Rack | Icing Spatula
- Frozen Bananas: You can use frozen bananas here. Thaw the frozen bananas. Drain off any excess liquid, mash, then use as instructed in the recipe. See How to Freeze & Thaw Bananas for Baking.
- Buttermilk: Buttermilk is required for this recipe. You can make your own DIY buttermilk substitute if needed. Add 1 Tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to a liquid measuring cup. Then add enough room-temperature whole milk to the same measuring cup until it reaches 1 and 1/2 cups (360g/ml). (In a pinch, lower-fat or nondairy milks work for this soured milk, but the cake won’t taste as moist or rich.) Stir it and let sit for 5 minutes. The homemade “buttermilk” will be somewhat curdled and ready to use in the recipe.
- Cupcakes: I’ve gotten a few questions about turning this cake into cupcakes. For about 2 dozen cupcakes, fill the cupcake liners halfway and bake for about 20–22 minutes. Same oven temperature.
- Can I Turn This Into a Banana Bundt Cake? I recommend using my very similar recipe for chocolate marble banana Bundt cake instead. (There’s a little extra baking powder for lift, which is helpful when baking in a large Bundt pan.) You can leave out the chocolate swirl in that recipe if you wish, and top with the cream cheese icing from this recipe for hummingbird Bundt cake.
- Layer Cake: I use this recipe to make my banana layer cake. If you want to make a 2-layer cake, divide the batter between 2 greased and lined 9-inch cake pans, and bake at 350°F (177°C) for 26–30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I just made this banana cake. It smells wonderful. It is cooking and I am going to make the icing on a little while. I will be tasting it later this evening. To continue.
Does the cake (without the frosting) have to be refrigerated? I was planning to bake it and take it to my family reunion but there will be no room to store it in the refrigerator.
Hi Sasha, the cake should be okay at room temperature for a few days without the frosting.
I loved it and it came out beautiful, I’ll surely recommend this recipe to my friends, thank you so much
Hi Sally,
This is the beat banana cake recipe ever. Thanks so much!
I made this cake for my girlfriends birthday and she said it was the absolute most wonderful birthday cake she had ever had!! It really was delicious and quite frankly better than anything I’ve ever had in the bakery thank you for all your recipes.
First of all, thank you for sharing this recipe!
I’ve had the same problem two times: the upper half of the cake is perfect, but the bottom half doesn’t have that crumbly texture. The bottom layer has a very dense pudding-like texture. The toothpick inserted came out clean though. Do you have an idea of what went wrong?
I followed your recipe exactly, except that I used half the ingredients listed for a round 9-inch tin.
Hi Christine, it sounds like the cake simply hasn’t been baked through long enough. When halving the recipe, is it filling your pan more than half way? If so, there’s likely too much batter which is causing it to heat and bake unevenly. For next time, fill the pan only half way and then use the leftover batter for a few cupcakes. Or, if you have a 9×9 square pan, that should work a bit better, too. Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try!
My son and I found the cinnamon too over powering. But obviously there are some spice cake lovers out there. We were disappointed because the cinnamon disguised the taste of the banana. I made it again, at a later date, without the cinnamon and it was a home run!
I used a buttercream icing with maple flavouring.
I have just made the mixture as per the ingredients, but it seems way too runny??
Hi Claire, did you use fresh or frozen bananas by chance? If you used frozen, it’s possible that there may be too much liquid in the batter. Or, was your butter too soft? We’d also recommend taking a look at the video if you haven’t already — that should give you a good idea of what the batter texture should be like.
Can I use frozen bananas? If so, should I then reduce or cut any other ingredients out?
Hi Jackie, Fresh (ripe) is best, but you can use thawed frozen bananas. We recommend draining them if there’s a lot of liquid.
Cake was tasty and moist but even though I used 1/2 the sugar in both the cake and icing recipes, it was way too sweet for us!
I followed directions to a T, but my cake seems way, way too heavy? It was too filling with just a very small piece. I must have made a mistake somewhere?
Hi Shari, if the cake tasted heavy over overly dense, it’s possible the cake batter was over mixed — that’s usually the culprit for dense cakes. We share more helpful tips on how to prevent dry and dense cakes here, that you might find helpful for next time. Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try!
Omg yessss I made this, and I think it’s the best banana cake I’ve ever had. I think the proportions of ingredients are perfect. I’m keeping this in my binder of recipes.
Yummy! I added a half tsp of nutmeg. Just because I love nutmeg. Otherwise followed recipe exactly. Nice and moist and so delish.
Hi. In the cake I added 1/2 tsp powdered ginger and 1/2 tsp powdered cinnamon.
For the icing I beat 1/4 cup cocoa into the butter and cream cheese. The icing was a bit stiff. I added a few tbsp sour cream.
Hello… thank you for sharing this recipe!
I’m just wondering why it needs refrigeration?
Any thing special to add for high altitude baking?
Hi Michelle, I wish we could help, but have no experience baking at high altitude. Some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
Thank you for this great recipe. Simply delicious! Deliciously simple!
Came our perfect all three times that I used it. The second time I didn’t have buttermilk or milk , it still turned out pretty nice. However, the simple addition of buttermilk does wonders!! Thanks for sharing this recipe, God bless you.
Can this be made in a sheet cake pan?
Hi Shari, our cake pan sizes and conversions guide will be helpful in scaling this cake for different pans. Hope you enjoy it!
This cake came out delicious, fluffy, and moist – probably because I followed the recipe exactly. Thank you and I will definitely be saving this recipe to use again and again.
Do you know how many grams or ounces for the bananas? They vary in size significantly.
Thank you for publishing this recipe, can’t wait to try!
Hi Abby! You’ll need 1.5 cups of mashed bananas which should be about 340 g. Enjoy!
Making ahead for my mom’s birthday this weekend. The cake turned out great! Will the frosting be sufficient for a 2-layer 9 in. cake, or do I need to augment?
Hi Julie! This should be enough for a two layer cake. If you want extra for decoration or an extra thick layer you could multiply the recipe by 1.5x. Hope it’s a hit!
I know 24 cupcakes come out of this batter. My question would be, can this cream cheese/butter frosting be used for the cupcakes? If so, what do you recommend, pastry tip or the good ole angled spatula? Thanks.
Hi Angel! This cream cheese frosting would be perfect for cupcakes. Either a round tip or a spatula would be best – cream cheese frosting is usually too thin to pipe with intricate piping tips. You can see how we frosted these banana cupcakes for inspiration (or follow that recipe instead). Hope you love them!
I have made this recipe multiple times. I have followed every step of the recipe concisely. I must say that this cake has gotten me in serious problems. My family wants me to make it every week. I add chopped walnuts and sift the powdered sugar. I use very dark sugar and since I have various lemon trees, I make my own buttermilk. Sally thanks for sharing this awesome recipe.
I made this recipe and it turned out excellent and moist! Only thing I didn’t make was the cream cheese frosting because my husband has a lactose problem but the cake was great! I sprinkled powdered sugar on top is there a substitute for cream cheese?
Hi Laurie! We’re so glad you enjoyed this cake. Unfortunately there’s no dairy-free substitute for cream cheese that we’ve found – let us know if you find something!
One of the most amazing cakes I’ve ever had. So moist. I made peanut butter frosting instead of cream cheese, and it was delicious. My husband loves bananas and peanut butter, and this was for his birthday!
Was wondering if you can freeze it after it’s been frosted?
Hi Vanessa, sure can! Frosted cake freezes well, up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, bring to room temperature or serve cold.
Hi Sally!
This is THE best banana cake EVER! Very soft and moist. I used soured cream as there was no buttermilk at the shop. It was super moist (a little too much) hot but cool it’s perfect with cream cheese frosting – I cheated and mixed cream cheese with icing sugar and it was fine. This is now my go to banana cake recipe. My only issue is how to make it firmer to be able to decorate with fondant?
Hi Krystal, we’re so glad you enjoyed this cake! We recommend using our regular vanilla buttercream under the fondant, as it’s a bit sturdier. You can still use the cream cheese frosting between layers, if desired.
I have made this cake several times it is absolutely delicious. The name fits the cake well. The best banana cake I’ve ever had! Thanks Sally!
This is by far the most moist cake I’ve ever made. But then, your recipes have never disappointed me! I’m normally a 9×13 pan gal, intimidated by the layer cake but I went for it with this recipe and it was a success!! I love that you give all the different baking options. Absolutely delicious!! Going to try your carrot cake next!!