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
I love this recipe! I made for my ladies lunch with sisters, cousins and and Aunties and they all wanted the recipe.
Do you think they would work as muffins?
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). You may enjoy my Banana Nut Crunch Muffins (a big hit with my family), Banana Muffins or another old family favorite, Banana Cupcakes. This recipe was handed down from my Grandpa! Hope that helps!
I just tried this banana cake recipe and it’s consistency is very heavy! It is not a cake! It is a cake that I can use as a door stopper. I could build a house with it! All the recipes we have compared to calls for baking powder. We all had a great laugh at and stomach aches at my expense. I will not make this again! No more brick banana cakes for me!
Sorry it didn’t work out for you Connie, I can’t say for sure what went wrong as so many readers have had great results with this cake.
Really? If you didn’t like the recipe, a simple “Didn’t care for it” would suffice. No need to be nasty, especially since almost everyone else including myself made this and it was outsranding. BEST banana cake ever and I have made quite a few. Holly you are very gracious..
And also outstanding as well as oustranding LOL!
I’m so glad you loved the cake Lauren!
This cake seems like heaven! I want to make this and top it with banana pudding so it can turn out to be a banana pudding cake! Question and hopefully this is not a stupid question, but when placing in the freezer, do you cover it? Also, if using buttermilk do you still use the same amount of milk?
Thank you and I look forward to trying this recipe this weekend!
Great question, I don’t cover it in the freezer since I just leave it long enough to cool. If using buttermilk, you’ll use the same amount as you would milk. Enjoy!
Can we substitute with almond milk instead of using milk?
I have only tried the recipe as written, so can’t say for sure. Other readers have commented that they used almond milk with success. Let us know if you try it with almond milk!
I substituted 3/4 cup of raw honey for the white sugar and used only a stick of butter instead of the listed amount (that was on accident haha) and it turned out sooo yummy! I used vanilla extract instead of lemon in the frosting. I think this may be one of my new favorite desserts!
So glad you loved it Mallory!
This might be a stupid question since I am new to baking but wouldn’t taking the pan right from the oven to the freezer crack the glass pan?
Not a stupid question at all, thank you for asking :). If I use pyrex I let it cool slightly (20 min) before putting it into the freezer.
Sabrina….You are exactly right! You never want to put a hot glass dish…into ANYTHING COOL BEFORE COOLING IT FIRST….This was My Exact Question Too, only to find that you had already asked it first! No smart cook would leave that info out either! At least without specifying maybe using a metal pan and do so….
I usually allow 15-20 min or so before putting in the freezer. Hope that helps! :)
This recipe is great, thank you Holly for sharing! I normally have to double the recipe due to the amount of bananas I have left over, and it makes a large batch, just enough to fit inside my kitchen aid mixer. Doubling the recipe makes about 4 pans of banana bread, so be sure to enjoy it with friends/family/coworkers!
You’re very welcome. So kind to share with your friends/family/coworkers!
This is the BEST banana cake I have ever tasted!! So very delectable and easy to make. Holly’s tips and info should be read before making this cake. I think the secret to success is the mixing time with the egg mixture and not over-mixing when adding the flour and milk to egg mixture and then the banana – again, don’t over-mix but just combine all ingredients.
I didn’t have all ingredients to make the cream cheese frosting so just made a lemon glaze with lemon juice, a little lemon zest, and confectioners sugar; it was perfect and really let the deliciousness of the banana cake shine! As others stated, just powdered sugar on top of the cake would be tasty because the cake is so flavorful and moist. This one is a keeper and my new go-to banana cake recipe.
So glad you loved it Marjorie!
Hi, I am excited to make this cake!! I have couple of questions though. I need it to be a double from you make. should i double the recipe to make double. It looks great. I love banana so i want to try this delicious cake.
Yes you can double the recipe but you will need to bake it in two separate pans.
OMG!!! Love you for sharing such a wonderful recipe.. I’ve lost hope in baking 7 years ago, but i really wanted to give your banana cake recipe a try, well what do i say its PRICELESS.. I’ve made this cake around 5 times minus frosting. my 2 year old loves it, I’m the sneaky eater here. My husband and my friend loved it too, credits goes to you!!!y
I am so glad you guys loved it! It is definitely one of our favorite banana cakes too!
Hi my cake didn’t turn out fluffy, it was dense and soggy at the bottom. Not sure if it is because my mixture curdled after I added the mixture to the butter and eggs mixture. Any suggestion ? Thank you ! I want to try it again to achieve that fluffy texture.
Which part of your mixture curdled? The milk/lemon juice mixture should thicken/sour.
Hi , I made this cake it turned out well. My only problem is I feel the lemon over powers the bananas. I can’t really taste the banana at all.
You could certainly try a vanilla frosting next time if you prefer.
I just made that for client….. And it turned out nice
So glad to hear Miracle!
I plan to make this cake a day ahead of time before served. So, should I just leave it in the freezer until the next day and frost it same day serving it? Or is it better to take it out when cool, frost it. Not sure if its better then to keep in fridge. any suggestions?
Yes, it freezes perfectly. Then defrost, frost and serve! Enjoy Dave!
My first attempt at this banana cake. Made it in a sheet pan @ 315 for about 35 minutes. Fridge and freezer aren’t large enough, so I’ll be putting it outside it’s 37 degrees tonight. Can’t wait to frost it tomorrow! Smells delicious.
Let me know how it turns out!
OMG! We loved this cake! The kiddos and I made this cake the other day being sure to follow the instructions to-the-letter! I’ve never had one of our cakes to turn out as moist and fluffy as this one did. Great recipe! It only lasted 2 days in our house! Hubby came home from work and killed it! He was sneaking in the kitchen eating it in the middle of the night! :)
I am so glad you guys loved it! My husband is definitely a fan too!
Ive been having difficulties trying to find a good banana cake recipe, they either were too dense or just pretty gross in general. I really liked this one though. It was extra fluffy, though I did sift the flour and baking soda. However the actual cake isnt very banana-y. I will make this again though! For anyone who wants to make cupcakes or mini loafs cook them for about 20-30 mins!
Hello Holly!
I tried this recipe but for some reason the sugar and butter ( at room temp) doesnt turn into fluffy frosting like the video when mixed with the eggs. Its more runny :(. Also i dont know if that contributed to the rubbery/dense cake when i pulled it out of the oven. Even though i hand mixed until the flour was just combined. Help >.< This is my 4th time and this cake just doesnt wanna work with me.
Oh no, how disappointing! Are your eggs room temperature as well?
I noticed in the video you did not add all the milk and all the flour mixture ,you added just a lil bit and then the bananas,are we suppose to do that or add it all ?
It was added a little bit at a time.
I made this banana cake last week and it came out so delicious! Truly moist and soooo gooooood!!! Everyone loved it! It is easy to make if you follow the recipe right. I’m thinking about next time adding some walnuts to the mixture. I added walnuts on top of the frosting for decoration, but might add it to the flour mixture next time. Can’t wait to make it again!
So glad you love the banana cake Ana!
Soooooo delicious! Thanks! I made this cake right after I saw the recipe on the net. I added some chocolate chips as a request. My whole family loves it and I bet there won’t be any left by tomorrow night!
I’m so glad you love the cake Manon!