This is, hands down, the BEST banana cake I’ve ever had. It’s soft, moist and rich all at the same time! Once cooled this cake is topped with a totally irresistible lemon cream cheese frosting for a perfect dessert your family will love.
I love a good banana cake, it just reminds me of being a kid because my Grandpa and Grandma made the BEST banana cupcakes. I can still smell them baking in my grandma’s kitchen, waiting impatiently with my sisters.
This cake is reminiscent of my favorite banana cupcakes. It is soft and fluffy and incredibly moist and topped with my favorite ever lemony cream cheese frosting.
As much as I love a fluffy banana cake, I love it even more when it’s topped with an amazing cream cheese frosting! I add in a little bit of lemon zest and lemon juice for extra flavor in my cream cheese frosting but if you prefer, you can leave out the lemon and substitute vanilla.
Regardless of how you top it, once you try this cake, it’ll be your go-to. Every time you have overripe bananas on the counter you’ll want to make this recipe! In fact, I often buy extra bananas to ripen and make this cake!
Tips to ensure a soft moist result:
- Ensure your ingredients are at room temperature (eggs and butter)
- You need the acidity from the lemon juice (& milk) mixture. Subbing in just milk or cream won’t work. (You can use buttermilk in its place if needed).
- When mixing your butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla, beat the mixture until VERY fluffy, almost the consistency of a fluffy buttercream frosting. This should take about 5 minutes.
- When adding the flour mixture you want to mix until just combined. Over-mixing will cause a dense chewy result.
- The cooking time on this cake can vary! Check your cake at 55 minutes, if it isn’t ready, continue cooking until a toothpick comes out clean (this can be up to an additional 20 minutes depending on your oven). The result will be a moist and irresistible banana cake.
Happy Baking!
The Best Banana Cake
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups milk
- 2 ½ tablespoons lemon juice divided
- 1 ⅓ cup mashed bananas
- ⅔ cup butter softened
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 cup white sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3 cups flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
FROSTING
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- ⅓ cup butter softened
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 ½ teaspoons lemon zest from 1 lemon
- 3-3 ½ cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 pan.
- Place 1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice in a measuring cup. Top to 1 ½ cups with milk. Set aside.
- Mix together mashed banana with 1 tablespoon lemon juice, set aside.
- Beat together butter, brown and white sugar until combined. Add in eggs one at a time and vanilla. Mix on high until light and fluffy (almost the texture of frosting).
- Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Alternate adding flour mixture and milk to egg mixture stirring just until combined. (Do not overmix). Fold in bananas. Pour into prepared pan.
- Put into the oven and reduce heat to 300°F. Bake 60 – 70 minutes (see note below) or just until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (do not over bake).
- Remove from oven and place in the freezer for 45 minutes to make the cake extra moist. Cool completely before frosting.
FROSTING
- Cream together butter & cream cheese until fluffy. Add in lemon zest and juice.
- Add powdered sugar a little at a time until you reach desired consistency. Spread over cooled cake.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
This recipe has been retested and updated 11/20/16.
Very slightly adapted from food.com
Can I used oat flour instead of regular?
We have only made this recipe as written Hillary, so I can’t say for sure. If you do try it, we would love to hear how it turns out!
This cake was definitely a family favorite. We had it for both breakfast and dessert! Thanks for sharing with us!!
I’ve been searching for a recipe like this for so long! When I was a kid, my neighbor would make THE most amazing banana bread and it tastes exactly like this one. This might be the closest I’m gonna get to having that recipe. Thank you so so much for sharing :)
I am so happy you enjoyed it, Anna!
Can you add pecans or walnuts to batter?
Hi Yolanda, we have only made this recipe as written but you could always sprinkle chopped walnuts or pecans on top after it’s been iced!
Does this need to be stored in the fridge or is it fine on the counter?
I like to keep it in the fridge and let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes before I serve it. Enjoy, Rose!
Delicious and moist. Would be great even without the icing. Will definitely make again.
Am trying this cake for the first time. Should the bananas be over-ripe? Does this cake freeze well if not frosted? when putting it in the freezer hot, can I leave it there to freeze for future use?
Hi Shirley, the bananas should be ripe so they’re easy to mash. Other readers have had success freezing this cake and frosting it once it’s thawed.
And yes, this cake can go straight from the oven to the freezer for future use. Let us know how it works out for you!
For everyone wondering: I baked this in two 8” round pans at 350 degrees for 28 minutes. Turned out moist and delicious!
Does anyone know what kind of butter to use? Salted? Unsalted?
We use unsalted. If you use salted butter you can skip the salt in the recipe.
Delicious! The cake did seem very dense more like a banana bar. Is there a way to make it lighter/fluffier? Otherwise I may make it make it is a larger pan as bars.
When mixing your butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla, beat the mixture until VERY fluffy, almost the consistency of a fluffy buttercream frosting. This should take about 5 minutes and will help make the cake light and fluffy!
I’m not sure if I’m missing from reading but what size pan or glass pan should be iused??Thank you
Hi Kathleen, if you scroll down to the recipe in step one we indicate the pan size! We use a 9×13 pan however, if using a glass pan you may want to let it cool slightly before putting directly into the freezer. I hope that helps!
Thank you so very much for your recipes ! Do you have a cookbook ?
Hi Lizabeth, if you’d like more of our recipes you can sign up here for our newsletter!
I have a question on the frosting recipe it says 3-3 1/2 cups of powder sugar….is that 3×3 1/2 cups????
This is between 3 cups and 3 ½ cups. Start with 3 cups, you may not need the extra half cup. Enjoy!
Very good cake icing was very easy to make and tested great
hello, can I make this in a circle 9″pan?
That should work fine for this recipe. But this recipe will make roughly two 9″ circle pans.
I like to make round layer cakes, wiki that make a big difference in how the cake turns out?
That shouldn’t affect how it turns out, but depending on the size of your round pan you will need to adjust the cooking time!
hubby made this and SUPER yummy! But with the square pan, the 15 servings as shown on the recipe didn’t work for even slices so we did 12 slices. Is the calories accurate though….each slice, of 15 slices, is 470 calories? thanks!
Hi Kit, the calorie count is an estimate but should be close. For a more accurate calorie count we recommend using an external tracker like MyFitnessPal.
High altitude adjustable?
Hi Karen, some people have struggled with this recipe at higher altitudes but I would love to hear how it turns out for you!
i am making that delicious looking banana cake and i was wondering if i put it in the freezer directly from the oven or do i cool it first. and also do you do this with all of your cakes? thank you
We only do it for this cake but it helps make it moist. If you using a glass pan and concerned of it shattering you can definitely let it cool a little first.
I just made this cake. I will never make banana nut bread again. this cake is moist, not too sweet, and feeds a whole bunch of people. I followed the recipe exactly and got excellent results.
thank you for sharing your recipes.
what is the purpose of putting the cake in a freezer
It helps make the cake moist!