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
My icing looks cream rather than fluffy. What did I do wrong? Also used a bottle of lemon peel to substitute for zest. So there are little pieces in it. Is that okay?
It’s not thick and spreadable, you can pour it onto the cake but once you pop it into the fridge for a few minutes, it is perfect (although still softer than a traditional frosting)! If you prefer a thicker frosting, you can add in an additional ⅓ cup butter and 1½ – 2 cups powdered sugar. The little pieces are just fine and should add some flavor.
Forgot to add the vanilla!! Stirred it into the batter in the pan, hope it works. Didn’t notice the vanilla until it was already poured in the pan and placed in the oven. Will be interesting to see if it works.
This cake looks yummy! I want to make a 2 layer cake for my daughter’s 2nd Birthday this weekend. Do I need to double the recipe to fill two 9″ cake pans? How long would these bake for? Thanks!
I have only made this in a 9×13 pan. If you read through the comments, there are other readers who have successfully tried other pans (such as cupcake pans).
If we wantcupcakes instead of a cake, how long do we bake?
I have only made this in a 9×13 pan. If you read through the comments, there are other readers who have successfully tried other pans (such as cupcake pans).
I have had banana muffins before. (Not a cupcake)They were frosted or topped with a peanut butter type frosting. They were so delicious. Would a peanut butter frosting go well with this banana cake?
Love that idea Karrie!
I made with peanut butter cream frosting and it was delicious!
Sounds yummy Erin!
I’m always looking for a Banana Cake recipe that compares to the one my sister always requested for her birthday cake. Although my mother was an excellent baker, she always purchased this BD cake from a bakery in South Bend, IN. I want to try your recipe, but my husband and I could never eat a 9×13 size. I’m always reluctant to cut a cake recipe in half, I would love your opinion. It looks delicious.
I would suggest baking the whole cake as directed and freezing half of it once baked for a later date. I’m sure you’ll love it!
I actually just halved this recipe tonight because I was a tad shy on the bananas. It turned out great!!
Sorry for the silly question but do you use plain flour or self raising flour?
This recipe uses all purpose flour.
Holly, I have some frozen bananas I need to use up. They work well in banana bread but when thawed they are watery, and of course they are brown. Do you think these would work alright in this cake?
I think they should work just fine.
Measuring your flour wrong can cause a dense cake. Make sure you are doing this correctly. Many sites on internet to show you how,it makes a difference!! Also, over mixing flour can cause denseness.
1. Use a spoon to fluff up the flour within the container.
2. Use a spoon to scoop the flour into the measuring cup.
3. Use a knife or other straight edged utensil to level the flour across the measuring cup.
Better yet, if you have a electronic measurer, use that. 1 c. flour weighs 4.25 oz. or 130 grams.
Hello Holly!
Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe!
I decided to try baking a banana cake (my favourite) for my birthday today. I looked at a few recipes in advance, and your recipe was the most attractive, so I saved the page.
I eventually decided to make a smaller cake (as I am beginner), so I adapted another recipe, and I combined it with your instructions. I actually used 100% spelt flour (yes, really), and Rapadura cane sugar, and the cake was delicious!
It took over an hour to cook, however, I think what truly made the difference was putting it straight in the freezer (I left it in for an hour). It was uncoventional, and I admit that I was skeptical, however, the cake was a success!
I am very pleased to write that the cake was light, fluffy and moist! I feel very happy and proud of myself. Thank you for your amazing recipe Holly; you made this birthday girl very happy.
Abby
(^_^)
Abby, I’m so glad that it turned out so well for you! Happy birthday :)
I have made this twice and I’m about to make it a third time. The cooling of the cake is genius. I don’t usually have room in my freezer, so I use the fridge. It turns out just as well. Everyone who tries this is hooked. It really is the best banana cake recipe. Thanks!
I’m so glad you love it was much as we do!
This is my first time baking banana cake! I followed this recipe and it works well. My parents and friends love the texture! I may reduce the sugar in future, cause it’s a little sweet for me. Appreciate the recipe! <3
Glad you love the cake Jesslyn!
Can I sub lime juice instead of lemon
I’m 56 years old and have been baking since I was a teenager. I made this cake EXACTLY per recipe and the hints. Only thing was my bananas weren’t all that ripe. Mine turned out to be the worst cake I’ve ever made! It was for my mom’s 81st birthday today and it was an awful disappointment when we tried eating it. As others said….dense and lumpy! Yes I used 1.5T baking power. Yes put it in the freezer. Needless to say my folks didn’t finish eating their pieces and I suggested they dump the rest in the trash. I think they’ll end up dipping graham crackers into the frosting. The only good thing about it!
How disappointing, I’m sorry this cake didn’t work out for you. If the bananas were not that ripe, it shouldn’t have caused a problem. I can’t say for sure what went wrong, I’ve made this cake so many times and always with great results (and it has so many great ratings too).
It says baking soda not powder
You went wrong with 1 n 1/2 T baking powder….
Recipe reads 1/2 T baking soda…
That’s your mistake I think.
Yes Jo, this recipe does ask for baking soda, not baking powder.
Baking soda is not usually measured by the tablespoon! I too messed up and thought it was tsp and not tbsp. I’ve got banana cake “brownies” now. Will frost them and take them to my son for his birthday anyway.
The recipes calls for 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, not 1.5T baking powder. Might have made a difference.
Can I add nuts to this recipe ? If so, does any adjustments need to be made to the quantity of other ingredients?
I would suggest adding about 1 cup. If you toss the nuts with a little bit of flour before adding to the batter, they won’t sink the the bottom. :) Enjoy!
I am going to be using an aluminum pan. Should I make any changes and will this be ok to put in freezer to cool
I haven’t tried this in an aluminum pan however I do know that they don’t always hold the heat that well. I’d suggest that you place it on a baking pan while baking. It could potentially take a bit longer to cook, let us know!
It worked out well. I cooked it about an hour on 300. Thanks for being there when we have questions.
Thank you for sharing Cathy! So glad it worked out well for you!
I don’t eat eggs . What can I subtitute for eggs???
Also how long do I keep in the freezer before taking it out??
I can’t say for sure on the eggs as I’ve only made this with eggs before. I keep it about an hour or until well chilled.
I tried so many recipes of banana cake and i havnt found the perfect taste for me.. i hope this recipe would give me satisfction hopefully.. thank you in advnce for this rec. ☺
You’re welcome, you’ll love it Jean!
Let me start by saying the flavor of this cake is amazing even with the huge mistake I made, it came out very dense. I was thinking back over putting every thing together I realized I misread the amount of flour and instead of 3 cups I only added 1 1/2. So therefore a very dense cake, but a very tasty cake. Also I made a change to the frosting by only using 1 1/4 cup of powdered sugar which was the right amount of sweet.
Glad you loved the cake!
i am reading conflicting information on putting cake directly in freezer. Am I to cool on counter
top for 15 to 20 minutes before putting into freezer if baking in Pyrex? AND does adding 1/2 cup pecans or walnuts change the moisture?
I think the nuts should be just fine. I usually leave it a few minutes but still put it in the freezer while it’s hot.
Can this recipe be halved??
I have never tried halving this recipe. Please let us know if you try it Joanne!
This truley is the Best Banana Cake ever. Made it just a few days ago and family loved it. Only 4 of us here and gone in 3 days. Made it again today for another friend that wanted it.
That’s so great to hear Lynn!
I just made this cake (opted for no frosting) and it came out delicious! I will definitely be making this again, thank you so much for sharing the recipe. :)
You’re welcome Cristina!
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! My previous baking endeavors had always been disasters. I tried your recipe today and wow, it was a miracle, the cake not just looks tempting, but is also super yummy, soft and delicious. Being a health freak, I instead used a 2:1 ratio of whole wheat flour and chickpea flour, and replaced sugar with jaggery (got it from Indian store). I am planning to add raisins and nuts next time.
I’m so happy to hear that Amor! Thank you for letting us know about your tips too.