If you’re searching for the best banana cake recipe, your search is over. Not banana bread masquerading as cake—this is a soft, buttery, ultra-moist sheet cake loaded with real banana flavor and topped with silky cream cheese frosting.
I originally published this recipe in 2016 and have since added new photos and a few more success tips.
My Go-To, Never-Fail Banana Cake
This is my go-to banana cake when I have a bunch of overripe bananas sitting on the counter—and once you try it, you’ll understand why. It’s unbelievably soft and moist with a rich buttery crumb and plenty of bold banana flavor in every bite. We’re not making banana bread here—this is a true cake, tender and fluffy, topped with a thick layer of tangy cream cheese frosting that takes it over the top.
It’s simple enough for a casual bake, yet special enough for birthdays, gatherings, and holidays. One bite and you’ll understand why this is a reader favorite!
One reader, Paul, commented: “I have been baking for 15 years. I use nothing but the finest ingredients. This banana cake IS by far the best banana cake I have ever made or tasted!!! ★★★★★“
Another reader, Lorena, commented: “Words don’t do justice to what happens to your taste buds as they experience the first bite. The texture is perfectly moist, the flavor is exquisite. Hands down the best banana cake ever. It’s one of those recipes that you want to pass down as family heirlooms. ★★★★★“
Another reader, Jacqui, commented: “The title of this recipe definitely holds true… this is a keeper for sure! ★★★★★“
Another reader, Barb, commented: “My husband tried it and said that this was the best banana cake he’d ever had. I told him that was the name of the recipe! … We’d give it 10 stars if we could. Great recipe, Sally, thank you! ★★★★★“
Remember that time I told you about the best banana cake I’ve ever had? I enjoyed obsessed over it at a family reunion. My husband’s 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.
It was, hands down, the best banana cake I’ve ever had. And I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.
Start With Spotty Bananas
The recipe starts with 1 and 1/2 cups (345g) mashed bananas, or about 4 medium or 3 large ripe bananas. Now, make sure those bananas are nice and spotty. More brown spots = sweeter, more banana flavor. It’s what you want for banana bread, chocolate banana bread, and banana muffins, too. Your cake (and everyone who eats it) will thank you.
I simply mash the bananas in my mixer—the same mixer I use to make the rest of the batter. Beat the bananas on high speed for a minute, then transfer to another bowl. No need to wash the mixing bowl before you cream the butter and sugars.
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.
Other Ingredients You Need:
- Flour: All-purpose flour creates the structure of this banana cake.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda: For lift. Be sure they are fresh—expired leaveners will leave you with a dense, stodgy cake.
- Cinnamon & Salt: For flavor.
- Butter: Be sure to start with proper room-temperature butter.
- Sugar: You need both white granulated and brown sugar to sweeten this cake.
- Eggs: To bind everything together and add tenderness and lift.
- Vanilla: Essential for flavor in all banana desserts!
- Buttermilk: 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. If you don’t keep buttermilk on hand or can’t find it at the store, you can make this buttermilk substitute: measure 1 Tablespoon of 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, let it sit for 5 minutes, and then it’s ready to be added to your batter.
Here’s the batter. There will be some lumps, and that’s fine!
You can use either a metal or glass 9×13-inch pan. I usually bake this cake in a glass pan, which works really well and bakes it evenly. If using glass, the bake time may be on the slightly longer end.
The Best Frosting for Banana Cake
This is the silkiest and smoothest cream cheese frosting I’ve ever tasted! It’s similar to the cream cheese frosting that we use for carrot cake, but the ratio of cream cheese to butter is different. For this banana cake, we’re using a 2:1 ratio of cream cheese to butter, instead of the carrot cake’s 4:1 ratio. So this makes the frosting a little firmer, silkier, 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 the flavor of brown butter, the brown butter cream cheese frosting from my zucchini cake would be fantastic here.
Not a fan of cream cheese frosting or just want to try something different?
More frosting flavors for banana cake:
- Vanilla Buttercream
- Chocolate Buttercream
- Salted Caramel Frosting
- White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting.
- Not-So-Sweet Whipped Frosting
This banana cake recipe is simple, reliable, and perfect for everything from casual baking days to celebrations, and I have a feeling it’ll earn a permanent spot in your recipe rotation. Just scroll through the many, many reviews below by home bakers who swear by this recipe for the best banana cake!
Other Banana Cake Sizes
- Layer Cake (Pictured Above): You can make this as either a 2-layer or 3-layer cake. For a 2-layer cake, divide the batter between two greased and lined 9-inch round pans and bake at 350°F (177°C) for 26–30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. For a 3-layer cake, divide the batter between three pans and bake for 22–26 minutes.
- 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. Or use this very similar banana cupcakes recipe.
- Bundt Cake: I recommend using my 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.
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
Soft, buttery, and ultra-moist, this is truly the best banana cake. Made with ripe bananas and topped with tangy cream cheese frosting, it’s a longtime reader favorite.
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 metal or glass 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 are 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 transfer it to 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 usually do). 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. Bring to room temperature before serving, if desired.
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 (Metal Pan or Glass 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: For about 2 dozen cupcakes, fill the cupcake liners halfway and bake for about 20–22 minutes. Same oven temperature. Or use this very similar banana cupcakes recipe.
- 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: You can make this as either a 2-layer or 3-layer cake. For a 2-layer cake, divide the batter between two greased and lined 9-inch round pans and bake at 350°F (177°C) for 26–30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. For a 3-layer cake, divide the batter between three pans and bake for 22–26 minutes. I often like to pair the layer cake with this brown butter cream cheese frosting.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Sally, thanks for this gorgeous recipe. The cake tasted lovely, I must say, even without the frosting.
My concern- I’ve made this twice now but my cake always comes out too dense and looking fallen. It’s not as crumby as yours- it’s way too moist. I first thought it was too much milk in the buttermilk the first time & I was very careful the second time around but it came out even more dense.
What may I be doing wrong?
Please help!
Hi Judith, Thanks for giving this recipe a try! The texture of this cake will definitely be on the denser side, but if you’re interested, I wrote a post about how to prevent dry and dense cakes.
Absolutely the best ! Love it!
Hello. I love this recipe. Please I was wondering if there is a way I can lessen the measurements of the recipe? I have been able to divide everything by half except for the eggs.
Hi Aisha, You can cut the recipe in half and use one and a half eggs. For the half egg simply crack one egg into a separate bowl, mix it, and add half of it to the cake.
This really is the best banana cake ever! I loved it, my husband loved it, my kids loved, my dad loved it, I gave some (a little too much really) to my neighbour and she loved it too. I’ve just made it again and can’t wait for it to come out of the oven. I won’t be waiting for it to completely cool because I have to eat some tonight! I’ll frost it tomorrow morning for the kids!
Thank you for this recipe xxx
Made this yesterday. Very good directions and easy to make. Moist and tasty I have been making a lot of banana bread thru all this coronavirus, so this was a great change. Everyone says it is delicious. I will definitely be making this again. For my taste, thought it had too much frosting, but no complaints from anyone about that. It is just your preference.
So glad I came across this recipe. I am keeping 1/2 of it in the freezer for down the road.
Thank you, Linda
Tried this recipe yesterday to use up the extra cream cheese frosting from your red velvet cake recipe – 5 stars for both cake and frosting!
First off, THANK YOU SO MUCH for including a more accurate measurement of the mashed bananas instead of the vague ‘3 medium’ or ‘2 large’ quantity that I’ve seen in other recipes (I ignore those recipes).
Second, the quantity of flour scared me – I mixed everything by hand and my largest mixing bowl was filled to the brim with little puffs of flour flying around with every stir LOL I had to use 2 pans to bake.
BUT, the end result was a dream of a banana cake – moist and tasty. I halved both the white and brown sugar and the sweetness (without frosting) was just right for my parents and even better (with the frosting) for us.
Thank you for all your hard work!! I will halve the recipe in future… or get a bigger bowl 🙂
This is literally the BEST cake I’ve ever eaten. My wife and I went through the whole cake by ourselves in a few day!
Intend to try this, but I know it will be good. What about adding chocolate chips to it? When should that happen?
Thanks for this – all I could find was recipes for banana bread..
Hi Cindy, Chocolate chips would be a delicious addition! Add about 1 cup of chocolate chips with the last addition of the dry ingredients.
Hi Sally, I’m hoping to make the cake this weekend and was wondering if the baking temp you gave is for normal oven or fan forced?
Hi Nicolette, the baking temperatures I include for all of my recipes are for a traditional, conventional oven. Happy baking!
Hi Sally,
I’m from Philippines. Tried the above mentioned recipe except the frosting and it turn out good in terms of sweetness but the texture was a little dense. Any suggestion to make the texture little fluffy?
Looking forward to try your other recipe.
Hi Anne, thanks for giving this recipe a try! The texture of this cake will definitely be on the denser side, but if you’re interested, I wrote a post about how to prevent dry and dense cakes. Happy baking!
I made this 4 times, delicious.
Added chocolate chips
I normally bake banana bread with my ripe bananas this time I wanted something else. I served it as desert and it was a winner everyone thought the frosting nicely finished the cake. It was such an success that I baked it again today!! This time I added a bit of nutmeg. Thanks for sharing
Sally, your recipes are ALWAYS my go to, but this one is by far, one of my new favorites. It was one of the most unbelievably wonderful things I’ve ever baked. My coworkers went NUTS over this cake. I only had 2%, but brought it up to “whole” by using some heavy cream instead of all 2% and used 1 tablespoon of vinegar as instructed. The absolute best, moist, flavorful cake, ever. Thank you again, for another winner
I made this cake for my grandkids. It was absolutely delicious. I took some of the batter and made an 8×8 pan size and the rest in a 9×13 pan. The icing had great flavor. I didn’t measure anything for the icing and pray I can make it exactly this flavor again.
Hi Sally,
This my first time baking & the banana cake looks nicely bake but the texture for lower 1/2 portion was too moist. Any idea what I have missed/done wrong? Thanks
Hi Suzie! It sounds like the cake is underbaked. This has happened to me as well– and when baking banana bread too– and it’s all the moisture from the batter sinking down since it’s not finished. A few extra minutes in the oven next time will help.
I followed this recipe to the letter and the cake came out superbly. My family and I are about the wolf down the remainder of the cake because it is too delicious. I am so pleased with myself and I am thankful to you Sally.
The texture of the cake is good, but I feel that it either needed more bananas, or maybe extra brown sugar. The cream cheese frosting saves it, but the cake alone was not as sweet as I would have liked. I made sure my bananas were extremely ripe. Gonna try this with an extra banana, more brown sugar, and maybe increasing the cinnamon.
This is very good cake. I never bake banana cake nor I am really bad at baking, but your recipe and instructions make it so easy to follow. It turned out the best banana cake I ever have.
Thank you Sally for sharing this recipe.
Stephanie (WA)
Hi Sally, I have only discovered your site and I have made this cake 3 times and must say this is the best banana cake I have ever made however the last couple of times I made this it is coming out like a banana loaf and not like a banana cake, I am following the recipe exactly, would you know what I am doing wrong?
Hi John! I’m so glad that you love this banana cake. It’s strange it’s turning out differently for you now– any slight changes you are making or perhaps using riper/less ripe bananas? Or a little more mashed banana than you normally use? Over-mixing can also create a dense cake. Make sure that the butter isn’t too warm, either. Proper room temperature butter is still a little cool to the touch. You might also find my How to Prevent a Dry or Dense Cake helpful too!
I always seem to have only two over-the-edge bananas. Have learned to take a large apple that’s on the verge of getting soft and grate it in for the third banana. Also use half vanilla extract and half rum extract. You can’t identify it as rum, just as extra richness.
All I had was almond milk….fingers crossed; it is in the oven. Will try with buttermilk next time.
THE best banana cake I’ve ever baked!
Added walnuts
Cake was delicious, I added walnuts to it and came out pretty damn good!
Thank you for such a lovely recipe.:)
I had “extra bananas” and was a little tired of banana bread so I made this cake this morning! I snuck a piece before I frosted it and it is wonderful! Thank you for sharing!
Made this today- was delicious and very moist! Better than any banana bread I’ve ever made. Added a handful of walnuts and a sprinkle of nutmeg and allspice.
This truly is moist and tastes so good! Doesn’t even need the icing
Hi, I don’t have unsalted butter so can salted butter be used if I omit the stand alone salt in the recipe? Same question for the frosting, please.
Hi Sue, you can use salted butter with no changes to the cake recipe. Honestly it won’t make a difference in taste or texture in the baked cake, but if you want to slightly reduce to 1/4 teaspoon you can. You can use salted butter in the frosting. It’s still plenty sweet.
This sounds amazing and I’m wanting to make it this weekend, but have a quick question. Would it work to use the same recipe for an 11×17 pan or would I need to adjust the ingredients?
Hi Tricia, To change the size of a cake pan you can see my post on Cake Pan Sizes and Conversions to calculate how much batter you would need.
Made it today. Delicious!!!
This is awesome. I no longer want to eat any other cake! I’ve made this twice and third time is going to be for my birthday . Thank you for posting!