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
Wondering if I can use this recipe to make cupcakes ? If so what is the baking time?
While I haven’t tried it, many readers have successfully made this into cupcakes. I would suggest filling your cupcake liners ⅔ full and baking for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. We would love to hear how it goes for you!
Can I use buttermilk instead of the sour milk?
Absolutely!
DONT miss the decrease heat to 300 once it starts—and if you do smaller pans, do less time–IF you do, its AMAZING delicious and MOIST. lovely
THANK YOU for this comment. I totally missed this until after I put it in! thankfully was only in for a few minutes. phew.
this really was the BEST banana cake!! Ive been having terrible luck with bananas going brown and mushy before i can eat them so i had a bunch of them lying around and was searching for a recipe that wasnt banana bread. I landed on this one and decided to make it to bring to work. It was probably the MOISTEST cake Ive ever eaten. Absolute perfection.I work in a restaurant and its tourist season for us which means insanely busy days and no time to eat. I brought this so everyone could at least have a snack and it was a huge hit!! This one is a keeper and ill defintely make it again!!
Amazing recipe! I had a lot of bananas so I made two to take to a club function. I made one with nuts and one without. It was such a big hit that several people took some home and also asked for the recipe.
This recipe is just perfect! I made it to my family and they really loved it, it tastes amazing and it’s so fluffy!🤤🤤🤤🤤
I made it without frosting, will definitely try it next time!
I am planning to make this recipe for a gathering this weekend- would semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips be a good touch to this recipe or leave as is?
I haven’t tried chocolate chips but many readers have with great success. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
I have some frozen bananas – if I thaw those will they work for this or is the consistency kind of off at that point?
You can lightly drain the thawed bananas and they should work just fine! If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
I’ve made this cake several times and it can easily overbake. It only takes about 35 minutes in my oven – – in a metal 9×13 cake pan at 350 (confirmed by independent oven thermometer). When not overbaked it is really delicious – super moist and flavorful. Follow your nose on this one! When you smell bananas and cake check it! I do not store it in the fridge – just covered tightly in a baking pan with a lid. It gets better as the fat from the icing sinks into the cake. If it’s overbaking try a glass 9 x 13 – you may have better luck with it.
Hi Marilee! Just wanted to let you know the recipe calls for the oven to reduce to 300 degrees, which might be why your cake is baking much quicker :)
Does this recipe work without cooling in the freezer? Doesn’t the hot pan damage the freezer?
Hi Deb, we do put the hot pan directly into the freezer, although if you have a glass pan, you can let it cool for 15-20 minutes before transferring to the freezer. You can also skip this step if you are concerned about it shattering!
I want to try to make this cake as a normal two layer. Do you think its possible?
Julio, many readers have made this into a layer cake. Let us know how it goes.
I made this cake yesterday. I followed the recipe to the letter. It was dry and dense. Not at all what I expected. Big disappointment. Frosting was yummy though.
Oh no! I’ve made this many times and not had this issue. It sounds like it may have been overbaked.
just curious, did you turn the temp down to 300 when you put the cake in the oven?
Yum! I made this tonight and planning to give the other half to my neighbors tomorrow. How do I store this?
I usually store it in the refrigerator, with plastic wrap on top of the baking dish or in an air tight container. Leave it at room temp at least 30 min before serving.
Is it possible to make this out of 8 or 9 inch rounds to make a 2 or three layered cake?
We haven’t tried turning this recipe into a tiered cake so I am not sure how it would hold up. However, if splitting it into smaller pans I would watch it carefully as the cooking time will be reduced. Then just bake it until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let us know how it turns out!
very good!
My daughter has requested a banana cake for her birthday. With quite a few people coming to her party, is it possible to double the recipe? Would it work in a large round cake tin?
If doubling the recipe I recommend doing two separate 9×13 inch baking pans. Enjoy Kerrie!
Everything they said is true! IThis is the perfect banana cake. have looked for and made dozens of banana cake recipes, and this is the best! Super moist and flavorful. Don’t skip the freezer step! This is easy to make and keeps well, too.
Do you have to use lemon juice to sour the milk or can vinegar be used?
You can use white vinegar in place and it will not affect the taste at all. Enjoy Veronica!
I’ve made this cake several times and it’s amazing.
I’m wondering if I could split the batter and bake this in two square 8”x8” cake pans. I am going to a small dinner party and could leave one cake at home for the kids. Would the cooking time need to be adjusted at all!
Many readers have made this cake in smaller pans or as cupcakes. I would suggest two 8×8 pans if dividing in half and to start checking the cake around 30 minutes for doneness with a toothpick. Let us know how it goes!
The best banana cake I have ever made. Had lemons, and all ingredients..and followed the recipe exactly..I have a convection oven, and mine was done in 30 min. Put in freezer, and then frosted it. Sooo good!
This cake is amazing. We don’t touch it the day I make it- we leave it alone until day 2 because it betters with time!!