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Quick Answer: A classic banana cake recipe is as follows: cream butter with white and brown sugar, beat in eggs, vanilla, and mashed ripe bananas, then add flour and buttermilk in turns. Bake in a greased 9×13-inch pan at 350°F for 45 to 50 minutes. Slap on cream cheese frosting.
Every kitchen has that bunch of bananas going brown on the counter. Nobody wants to eat them. They are the start of one of the easiest desserts you can bake.
Key Takeaways
- Overripe bananas give the most flavor and moisture.
- Buttermilk keeps the crumb soft and activates baking soda.
- Mix in dry ingredients just until combined.
- Measure mashed bananas rather than counting them.
Banana Cake vs. Banana Bread: What’s the Difference?
FoodThe Best Food in NYC: A Complete Guide to Eating Across the City→ Banana bread bakes in a loaf pan. It’s denser, less sweet, and often eaten at breakfast. Banana cake is baked in a cake pan. It is fluffy and moist and has a thick coat of frosting. Creaming the butter and sugar whips air into the batter. That’s where the light, tender crumb comes from.
Ingredients for This Banana Cake Recipe
Our base is the 9×13-inch sheet cake from Sally’s Baking Addiction, a reader favorite that feeds 12. Below is the list of ingredients:
| Ingredient | Amount | Why It Matters |
| Mashed ripe bananas | 1 ½ cups (345 g) | Flavor and moisture |
| All-purpose flour | 3 cups (375 g) | Structure |
| Baking powder | 1 tsp | Even lift |
| Baking soda | 1 tsp | Rise (works with buttermilk) |
| Cinnamon | ½ tsp | Warm flavor |
| Salt | ½ tsp | Balance |
| Unsalted butter, softened | ¾ cup (170 g) | Rich taste |
| Granulated sugar | 1 cup (200 g) | Sweetness |
| Light or dark brown sugar | ½ cup (100 g) | Depth and softness |
| Large eggs, room temp | 3 | Binding and lift |
| Vanilla extract | 2 tsp | Flavor |
| Buttermilk, room temp | 1 ½ cups (360 ml) | Moisture and tang |
For frosting, you need 8 ounces full-fat brick cream cheese, ½ cup softened butter, 3 cups powdered sugar (plus ¼ cup more if you want it thicker), 1 teaspoon vanilla, and ⅛ teaspoon salt. The ratio here is 2:1 cream cheese to butter, not the 4:1 you’d use on carrot cake. This will make the cake silky and firm.
Also ReadFoodThe NYC Recipe Index: Every Recipe, Organised by How You Cook→ If you are out of buttermilk, pour 1 tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar into a measuring cup, top it up with whole milk to 1 ½ cups, and wait 5 minutes.
How to Make Banana Cake Step by Step
- Prep the pan:Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease your 9×13-inch pan (metal or glass, your call).
- Mash those bananas: A fork or your mixer both work.
- Whisk the dry ingredients: Flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in one bowl.
- Cream butter and sugars: Medium-high speed, about 3 minutes, until fluffy.
- Add wet ingredients: Beat in the eggs and vanilla first, then the mashed bananas.
- Alternate dry mix and buttermilk: Mixer on low. Add the dry mix in 3 rounds, swapping in buttermilk between each. Stop the second it comes together. If the batter becomes lumpy, it is normal.
- Bake: Spread it out and bake for 45 to 50 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the centre should come out clean. If the top gets brown quickly, tent it loosely with foil. Glass pans usually need some extra minutes.
- Cool it:Completely. Can’t wait? After about 45 minutes, move it to the fridge.
- Whip the frosting: Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. Low speed for 30 seconds, then high for 2 minutes. Spread it thick.
- Chill, then slice: Thirty minutes in the fridge sets the frosting and makes cutting easier.
Popular Variations From Top Bakers
Allrecipes shares the recipe with a cute story. The baker’s friend made it for her during a visit, right after having her 11th child. This one bakes low and slow at 275°F for about an hour. Then the hot cake goes straight into the freezer, uncovered, for 45 minutes. It makes the cake crazy moist. Member Jillian raves, “This cake is so moist and delicious!”
Spend With Pennies also uses the freezer trick. The oven starts at 350°F, drops to 300°F, and the cake bakes for 60 to 70 minutes. Its frosting sneaks in lemon zest and juice.
Delish goes full party mode with two 8-inch layers baked for 30 to 35 minutes. Sour cream brings richness. A flour-and-cornstarch mix stands in for cake flour. Walnuts and banana slices on top.
Sugar Spun Run swears by butter plus oil. Butter for flavor, oil for a crumb that stays soft even cold.
In January 2014, Boston University’s Sargent Choice Test Kitchen made a whole wheat version adapted from Moosewood Restaurant, with light cream cheese frosting. Students tossed an extra cup of mashed banana into one batch. Plenty of them liked that moister cake better.
Banana Cake Nutrition Facts
Numbers vary by recipe and slice size. Here are estimates per serving:
| Cake Style | Servings | Calories | Fat | Sugar |
| Freezer-made sheet cake | 18 | 453 | 18 g | 50 g |
| Lemon-frosted sheet cake | 15 | 470 | 19 g | 48 g |
| Two-layer cake | 12 | 726 | 37 g | 63 g |
| Butter-and-oil sheet cake | 24 | 350 | 26 g | 26 g |
| Whole wheat test kitchen cake | 24 | 190 | 7 g | Not listed |
Tips for a Moist Banana Cake Recipe
- Spotty Bananas are best: Ripening turns banana starch into sugar. King Arthur Baking has a guide for picking the right ones.
- Measure the mash:Too little and the cake’s dry and bland. Too much and it sinks or turns oily.
- Check the dates: Expired baking soda or powder makes cake dense and stodgy.
Layer Cake and Cupcake Options
If you want to make the cake fancy, split the batter between two 9-inch rounds and bake for 26 to 30 minutes, or three 8- or 9-inch pans for 22 to 26 minutes. Cupcake people: fill liners halfway for about 24 minutes, and bake for 20 to 22 minutes.
FAQs
Why is my banana cake dense?
Ans: Usually, overmixing, cold ingredients, or old baking soda and powder makes it dense. So mix it until combined and check those dates.
Can I use frozen bananas?
Ans:Yes. Thaw them at room temperature, drain the extra liquid, then mash and measure as usual.
How many bananas do I need for banana cake?
Ans: About 1 ½ cups mashed. That’s about 3 large or 4 medium bananas.
Why did my banana cake sink?
Ans:It’s likely underbaked, mixed too much or too little, or made with expired leaveners. Extra banana can drag it down, too.
How long does banana cake last?
Ans: It lasts up to 5 days in the fridge, tightly covered. Frosted or not, it freezes for up to 3 months.
What frosting goes best with banana cake?
Ans: Cream cheese frosting is best. Its tang cuts the sweetness. Chocolate, vanilla buttercream, or salted caramel are also excellent choices.
Sources & References:
- Allrecipes –The baker’s friend made it for her during a visit, right after having her 11th child.
- Sally’s Baking –You can make a 9×13-inch sheet cake that can feed 12.
- Delish –The two 8-inch-layer banana cakes can be baked for 30 to 35 minutes.
- Spend With Pennies –When the cake is hot, place it in the freezer, uncovered, for 45 minutes.
- Reviewed by editorial staff before publication.
- Fact-checking and source verification applied.
- Updated regularly for accuracy and clarity.
- Aligned with newsroom ethics and publishing standards.
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