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!
Print
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 the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together. Set aside.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high speed until smooth and creamy—about 1 minute. Add both sugars and beat on high speed for 2 minutes until creamed together. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl with a rubber 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 up the bottom of the bowl as needed. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in three 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 wire 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 switch 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 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 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. (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 around 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 extremely 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.
- Layer Cake: I use this recipe to make my banana layer cake. If you want to make a 2 layer cake, divide batter between 2 greased 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
SOOOO YUMMY. Very moist, lovely flavour, cant stop eating it
I made this using the browned butter version of the frosting from the tiered version, but put it in the 9×13 pan for the sake of easiness. It is absolutely delicious, definitely reminiscent of banana bread vs a cake with the density. Making it again, I would use cake flour to attempt a lighter crumb. If you love banana bread and want a slightly lighter cake version, this will be your new favorite.
Hi,I made the banana cake using buttermilk today,but there was a wet layer at the bottom of the cake.is 360ml buttermilk too much?
Hi Roberta, the buttermilk measurements are correct, but it sounds like your cake may simply be underbaked. A few additional minutes in the oven should help for next time. Thanks for giving this recipe a try!
Can I half this recipe?
Hi Tabitha, you can halve this recipe for an 8×8- or 9×9-inch baking dish. The bake time will be shorter, though we can’t say exactly how long. Use a toothpick to test for doneness. For the eggs, use 1 egg then crack a 2nd egg, beat it, and use half of the mixture.
We made this recipe and we were very disappointed We love all the other recipes but this one not so much
Another total hit! I made this for company and everyone loves it. I agree that I thought there might be too much frosting (I am not a frosting lover… No haters lol) however per bite, it was perfect because it wasn’t overly sweet or heavy on cream cheese flavor. I’m at a VRBO and the oven is off I know. However mine started to get a little dark on top so I pulled it 5.min early (toothpick came out clean) and thought it should have stayed in the full time. I don’t think the darker color would have been a detriment to the flavor or moistness or even noticeable once the frosting is on.
Can you substitute some of the sugar with honey?
Hi Larry, we haven’t tried a sugar substitute here. You could use plain sugar here instead of honey. Brown sugar contains more moisture so the texture of your cake may be slightly different than intended, but you can certainly try it!
This is a good recipe! It’s moist and the frosting is lovely. I’d make it again.
I found. That 1 and 1/2 cups of buttermilk makes the batter very thin. Am I doing something wrong?!
Hi Steph, how are you measuring your flour? It sounds like it could be undermeasured if the batter is on the thinner side. Be sure to spoon and level (or use a kitchen scale) to ensure just the right amount to soak up those wet ingredients. Did you measure out your mashed bananas to be 1 and 1/2 cups? If you went just by # of bananas, there could be too much banana in the batter, causing it to be thinner, too. Hope this helps!
I’m the taste was alright but nothing special.
The main thing I didn’t care for was that it was more like banana bread than banana cake.
This recipe is amazing! I didn’t do the cream cheese frosting, but instead put the peanut butter filling from your peanut butter chocolate cake on it with chocolate shavings. Delicious!
This cake is made weekly at our house! Amazing. Love everything you make. It always turns out exactly like it’s supposed to!
Cheers from Australia!!
Thank you, Matilda! We are so glad you are enjoying our recipes!
I love your cake recipes! I need to bake a gluten free, non dairy cake. I think I can substitute GF flour, but will oat milk work as a buttermilk substitute? And coconut oil work as a butter sub?
Hi Joanne, we haven’t tested any of those substitutes, so we’re unsure of the exact results. You can try using oat milk to create a DIY sub, and solid coconut oil can be used in place of the butter. Make sure it is solid so that it can be creamed properly with the sugars. The taste will, of course, be a bit different. Hope it’s a hit!
This is the best banana cake recipe ever! Thanks so much
I have made this recipe several times and the last two times I used a Bundt pan and combo baked it in my convection microwave on the combination setting. It turned out excellent. Love this recipe. It’s a hit!!
Than you for sharing. God bless you!
This is the second time that I’ve done your banana bread recipe and it is DELICIOUS !!! I’m gonna make it forever!
Sally, Thanks for the banana cake recipe & the tip on freezing bananas!
I tried this amazing recipe without out the cream cheese. And it came out exactly as displayed and just as yummy.
Definitely giving this another go, thanks Sally!!
My friend is undergoing chemo and had a craving for banana cake. So I came straight to Sally’s for the “best ever” recipe. In the course of the conversation with friend, she was talking about peanut butter and chocolate too. So I made the cake then put a layer of chocolate ganache on top, chilled it, then added Sally’s creamy peanut butter frosting. Incredible! My friend LOVED it. Thanks, Sally!
Used a 9×9 ” square pan Delicious..used less cinnamon!
Fabulous recipe..thnx
What is a substitute to for Buttermilk. I’m having a hard time finding it.
Thanks.
Hi Pamela, See recipe Notes for details on making your own DIY buttermilk!
Hi Sally: I’m planning to make this cake soon but only have a metal 9×13″ pan. Does time vary with metal over glass, and approximately by how much? Additionally, the pan is new and the instructions say not to use cooking spray. Should I use solid shortening or butter? I have six frozen bananas, and I’d planned to make banana bread until I saw this recipe, and now I just have to make this.
Hi Pamela, opinions vary but we love baking quarter sheet cakes in a glass pan. We love being able to see when those edges brown. We also find that metal quickly over-bakes/browns the edges, so keep an eye on your cake! You can use oil or shortening to grease the pan.
Thank you Michelle. I’m really a novice when it comes to baking, and what a joy it is to have this website.
Hi Sally, I’d like to make a 1/4 sheet cake with this recipe for a birthday party. Would I just double the recipe and how long would I bake it for?
Hi Susan! This recipe as written is for a 1/4 sheet cake (a 9×13 inch pan).
Sorry, I should have told you I am using the Wilton 11×15 sheet cake pan. So should I double the recipe? How long to bake it? Thanks so much!
Here is everything you need to know about converting recipes to different Cake Pan Sizes.
This was so good and a step up above the typical banana bread! I used 4 large bananas (500 grams mashed) and reduced the white sugar to 100 grams but everything else was kept the same. I didn’t make the frosting but the cake was so good even without it, so moist and just the right level of sweetness.
This was the best recipe I have ever found! This cake was so moist, and my friend said that it was even better the next day!
Great recipe! Super moist and lots of banana flavor. This will be my go-to banana cake forever. THANKS!
I want to make this to take with us camping. It seems like I can freeze it with the frosting, is that right?? Otherwise I’ll make the frosting at the day before and frost when we are there!
Hi Susan, Yes! Frosted or unfrosted cake freezes well, up to 3 months.
Your website and recipes are our first stop anytime my daughter, Beth, or I want to bake something. We have not been disappointed yet. Your recipes are easy to follow and I love your tips and tricks. I do have a question about your best banana cake recipe. I’ve baked it many times and we are going to a ball tournament next weekend for Father’s Day and I want to take a few cakes with me. Can I mix the batter today and bake it tomorrow? I’d like to do all the prep work on a hot day and bake on a rainy day. Keep up the great work and thank you for making our lives sweeter.
Hi Brenda, thank you so much for your kind note! The leaveners are activated once the wet and dry ingredients are mixed together, so for best rise and texture, we recommend making the batter right away.
Thanks for the quick response. I ended up making it and following the instructions for freezing it. I tend to bake this instead of banana bread now all the time and consider myself fortunate if there’s any left to freeze. My husband and teenager eat it as quickly as I make it
Not banana-y enough! followed this recipe to the Gram (except for the amount of sugar, which I reduced by 1/3 because recipes are always way too sweet), but that wouldn’t affect the banana flavor as much as the moistness.. Makes a big cake, and the icing does the heavy lifting (used a low sugar recipe instead of the one provided that required 3c).
Hi Anne, thanks so much for giving these a try. Were your bananas not ripe enough perhaps? The ripeness of the bananas can definitely play a role in how banana-forward the cake is. Thanks again!