Banana Cake Recipe
This is the banana cake that makes you forget banana bread exists. Soft, buttery, packed with real banana flavor, and finished with a tangy cream cheese frosting — it’s the kind of recipe you’ll make every time you have overripe bananas sitting on the counter.
Why This Banana Cake Works
Most banana cakes fall somewhere between banana bread and an actual cake — dense, heavy, and underwhelming. This recipe is different. It uses a combination of butter and oil (butter for flavor, oil for moisture), overripe bananas for maximum sweetness, and buttermilk to keep the crumb tender and light. The result is a cake that is genuinely fluffy, deeply flavored, and stays soft for days.
The cream cheese frosting is not optional. The slight tang cuts through the sweetness of the banana base in a way that makes every bite taste balanced rather than cloying. Once you try them together, you’ll understand why this pairing appears in virtually every great banana cake recipe.
The single most important ingredient decision: use bananas that are heavily spotted or mostly brown. The darker and softer the banana, the more natural sugar it contains and the more intense the banana flavor in the finished cake. Yellow bananas will give you a noticeably less flavorful result.
Ingredients
For the cake
Cake ingredients
For the cream cheese frosting
Frosting ingredients
No buttermilk? Make your own: add 1 tbsp of white vinegar or lemon juice to a measuring cup, then fill to the ¾ cup line with whole milk. Stir and let sit for 5 minutes before using. It works perfectly every time.
How to Make Banana Cake — Step by Step
Full method
- Preheat oven to 175°C / 350°F. Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan and line with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the long sides for easy removal.
- Peel and mash bananas with a fork or potato masher until smooth with just a few small lumps. Set aside. The more overripe and spotty your bananas, the better the flavor.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using an electric mixer, beat the softened butter, oil, and both sugars together on medium-high speed for 3–4 minutes until light and very fluffy. Don’t rush this step — proper aeration makes the cake lighter.
- Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl between each addition. Mix in vanilla extract.
- Mix in the mashed bananas on low speed. The batter may look slightly curdled at this point — that’s completely normal.
- With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk in two additions (dry → buttermilk → dry → buttermilk → dry). Begin and end with the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined — do not overmix.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake for 40–45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs. Start checking at 38 minutes as oven temperatures vary.
- Let the cake cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then lift it out using the parchment overhang and transfer to a wire rack. The cake must be completely cool before frosting.
Making the Cream Cheese Frosting
The frosting is where this cake goes from good to unforgettable. Tangy, silky, and just sweet enough — it balances the rich banana base perfectly. The most important rule: both the cream cheese and butter must be at room temperature. Cold cream cheese gives lumpy frosting every time.
Cream cheese frosting method
- Beat the softened cream cheese and butter together on medium-high speed for 2–3 minutes until completely smooth and creamy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add sifted powdered sugar in two additions, mixing on low speed after each until incorporated. This prevents a sugar cloud.
- Add vanilla extract, a squeeze of lemon juice, and a pinch of salt. Beat on medium-high for 1 minute until light and fluffy.
- Taste and adjust — add more powdered sugar for sweetness, more lemon juice for tang. The frosting should be spreadable but hold its shape.
- Spread generously over the completely cooled cake using an offset spatula or the back of a large spoon.
Frosting tip: Use block-style full-fat cream cheese, not the spreadable kind from a tub. The tub variety has added stabilizers that make the frosting too soft and difficult to spread. Bring it to room temperature for at least an hour before starting.
Expert Tips for the Best Result
- Use the brownest bananas you can find. Heavily spotted or almost fully black bananas contain more natural sugar and deliver far more banana flavor than yellow ones. If yours aren’t ripe enough, bake them unpeeled at 180°C for 10 minutes until the skin blackens.
- Room temperature ingredients. Butter, eggs, and buttermilk all need to be at room temperature before you start. Cold ingredients don’t emulsify properly and result in a denser, less uniform crumb.
- Don’t overmix after adding flour. Once the dry ingredients go in, switch to a spatula and fold gently until just combined. Overmixing develops gluten and makes the cake dense and chewy rather than light and tender.
- Butter AND oil. Butter alone can dry out a cake — especially one that’s refrigerated (butter solidifies when cold). Adding oil ensures the crumb stays moist and tender even after a day in the fridge.
- Cool completely before frosting. Spreading frosting on a warm cake will melt it into a mess. Be patient — at least 2 hours at room temperature, or 30 minutes in the fridge.
- Weigh your flour. Too much flour is the most common reason cakes turn out dry. Use a kitchen scale if you have one. If measuring by cup, spoon the flour into the cup and level off — never scoop directly from the bag.
Variations Worth Trying
Banana Walnut Cake
Fold 100g of roughly chopped toasted walnuts into the batter before pouring into the pan. The nutty crunch against the soft banana crumb is a classic combination. Add a handful of walnut halves on top of the frosting for presentation.
Chocolate Chip Banana Cake
Stir 150g of semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips into the finished batter. The chocolate melts into pockets throughout the cake, and the combination of chocolate and banana is hard to beat. Particularly good with a dark chocolate drizzle over the cream cheese frosting.
Banana Layer Cake
Divide the batter between two 8-inch or 9-inch round cake pans (reduce bake time to 28–32 minutes). Once cooled, stack the layers with a generous amount of cream cheese frosting between them and frost the outside. A more formal presentation for birthdays and celebrations.
Brown Butter Banana Cake
Brown the butter in a saucepan over medium heat until it turns golden and smells nutty, then cool it completely before using. The brown butter adds a deep, caramel-like richness that elevates the entire cake and pairs beautifully with the banana flavor.
Storage: Because of the cream cheese frosting, this cake must be stored covered in the refrigerator. It keeps well for up to 5 days. Serve at room temperature for the best flavor and texture — remove from the fridge at least 30 minutes before eating. The unfrosted cake freezes well for up to 2 months wrapped tightly in plastic wrap.
Nutrition Per Serving
Based on 16 servings including cream cheese frosting. Values are approximate.
| Nutrient | Per serving |
|---|---|
| Calories | 385 kcal |
| Total Fat | 18g |
| Saturated Fat | 10g |
| Carbohydrates | 52g |
| Sugar | 38g |
| Protein | 4g |
| Fiber | 1g |
| Sodium | 210mg |
Common Questions
Can I use frozen bananas?
Yes — frozen and thawed bananas are actually excellent for baking. Thaw them at room temperature, drain off any excess liquid, then mash and use as directed. Freezing breaks down the cell walls and makes the banana even sweeter and easier to mash.
Can I make this without buttermilk?
Make a quick substitute: add 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to a measuring cup, fill to the ¾ cup line with whole milk, stir, and let sit for 5 minutes. It works beautifully. Full-fat sour cream or Greek yogurt thinned slightly with milk also work well.
Why did my cake sink in the middle?
The most common causes are: underbaking (always check with a toothpick before removing from the oven), opening the oven door too early, or overmixing the batter after adding the flour. Make sure your baking soda is fresh — old leavening is a frequent culprit.
Can I make banana cake cupcakes from this recipe?
Yes. Fill lined cupcake tins about two-thirds full and bake at 175°C for 18–22 minutes. This recipe makes approximately 22–24 cupcakes. Top each one with a generous swirl of cream cheese frosting using a piping bag.
How ripe should the bananas really be?
The riper the better. Bananas that are mostly brown or nearly black — the ones that look like they need to be thrown away — are at peak sweetness for baking. The darker and softer the banana, the more intense the banana flavor in the finished cake.
The Bottom Line
This is the banana cake that converts people. The combination of ripe bananas, buttermilk, and that butter-and-oil base gives it a texture and depth of flavor that no other recipe quite matches. The cream cheese frosting is the perfect finish — tangy and silky and just rich enough. Make it once and it’ll become the thing you reach for every time the bananas go brown on your counter.
