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!
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups milk
- 2 ½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice divided
- 1 ⅓ cups mashed bananas about 4 medium bananas
- ⅔ cup unsalted butter softened
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- ⅓ cup butter softened
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice or vanilla extract
- 1 ½ teaspoons lemon zest from 1 lemon, optional
- 3-3 ½ cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. 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
Hi Molly…It was just as you said. It was a much greater hit w/o the frosting… Thanks for sharing it with my family. We will be having this again, and again ☺
So glad you loved it!!
Awesome recipe! First time I made this cake and it was easy to follow family loved it! Can’t wait to make it again thanks for another great recipe.
I just discovered this recipe and wonder if cocoa could be added to make it a chocolate banana cake. If so, would any of the other ingredient amounts need to be adjusted? I will take an educated opinion even if if you have not tried it. Thank you. Brawny
While I have not tried it, I think that you could replace part of the flour with cocoa (maybe a few tablespoons up to ¼ cup). It may change the texture of the cake. Let us know if you try it Brawny. It sounds like a great idea!
Even after following this exactly it wasn’t like cake. I have baked for years and I do not think this recipe calls for a moist fluffy cake.
Not sure what I did wrong but my cake ended up dry dry and cooked in about 45 min. I did add 1/2 cup walnuts but that it.everything else exactly as the recipe stated. I might increase the milk and brown sugar next time! Onward bakers!!
I’m sorry that this didn’t work out for you. I can’t say for sure why it was dry as this has always turned out for me perfectly as written. How did you measure your flour?
Ugh, I’m so disappointed the receipt changed. If I would have known I would have printed it. :(‘.
I’m so glad you love this cake as much as we do Janet! The only updates to the recipe were changing 4 small bananas to an exact quantity of 1⅓ cups and increasing ½ cup butter to ⅔ cup. Here is the original frosting recipe:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons milk
½ cup packed brown sugar
1½ cups confectioners’ sugar
8 oz cream cheese, room temperature
Melt butter and 2 tablespoons milk over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar, bring to a boil and let boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in ½ cup powdered sugar. Let cool and stir in remaining powdered sugar.
Beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add in brown sugar mixture.
My granddaughter and I baked this cake yesterday…. fantastic! I didn’t have cream cheese so wr did a basic lemon buttercream frosting.
This is my new favorite cake, thanks! Followed the recipe exactly and came out perfectly. So delicious!!
That’s fantastic Ty!
Was as it states the best banana cake ever.I was even asked to make it as a birthday cake for one of my coworkers!
Glad your coworkers loved it Joanne!
I was looking at about 5 bananas that were beyond what I wanted to eat. So I was thinking banana cake – not bread, to dense – but cake. Never made one before didn’t even know there was such a thing. Googled it and found this receipe and so glad I did. I love making stuff from scratch and wanted a desert. This recipe makes an amazingly wonderful light cake that doesn’t even need frosting. Just served it warm with a little whipped cream from a can. Followed the recipe to a t. I had never seen lemon juice’s effect on milk. Interesting.
I am so glad you enjoyed this recipe Kathy!
Hi, I want to have a go at these recipe and had a query – I just wondered about putting the cake in the freezer straight from the oven. Do you have to wait for the cake to cool down first before putting it in the freezer?
I usually let it cool slightly (15 min or so).
A good recipe. I thought it would taste more like bananas… And the frosting seemed a bit too sweet. Any way to modify either the cake or frosting to address these concerns?
We liked i, i used lemon ectract in the cake and i shaved orange peel into the icing it was a nice burst of citrus and banana
Love the flavor variation Liss! Happy to hear you enjoyed the cake!
I’ve made this cake many times. It’s the most requested by my family. Everyone loves it.
I am so glad that your family has been enjoying this recipe!
The name of the recipe PERFECTLY describes this cake! Moist and flavorful. My family devoured it!
Yay Sheila!!
Excellent!
February 17 2018, I made this and it is so moist and delicious, I left it in for 55 minutes and it was perfect I could have taken it out at 50, not too sweet I don’t think you could even switch up the lemon juice with lime juice
This cake is so delicious I’m making another, the 2nd in 4 days! Thanks for sharing this tasty recipe
Happy to hear you love this recipe so much Jamie!
I really want to try this cake but the cup conversions are so conflicting wherever i research, could you possibly publish with Uk measurements please?
As I’m not in the UK I only use North American measurements.
I’ve decided this is the best banana cake I’ve ever had!!! It was incredibly moist and not overly sweet. I ate it while it was still warm, slathered in butter!! De-li-cious!!!
Yay! So glad you loved it Tori!