Soft and tender Banana Cake topped with a thick and buttery cream cheese frosting. This Easy Banana Cake takes minutes to make and will easily serve a hungry crowd.
Do you have ripe, spotty bananas sitting in your fruit bowl? 🍌
If so, you need to jump in the kitchen and make this Easy Banana Cake right now. It’s big, buttery and oh-so-banana-ry. And don’t even get me started on that melt-in-your-mouth cream cheese frosting.
It’s honestly the BEST way to bake with bananas!
I know you love banana bread just as much as me. And when I discovered chocolate banana bread, I thought life was complete. But I have to say, a piece of freshly baked Banana Cake slathered in cream cheese frosting is my new fave.
And this is seriously good. The cake itself is buttery and soft and bursting with banana flavour. Make sure you use bananas that are stinky, spotty and overripe. That’ll ensure your cake has plenty of flavour.
We also use buttermilk in this recipe which will ensure your cake stays soft and fluffy – even a day or two later. If you don’t have your own buttermilk on hand, you can make your own by adding 1 tablespoon of white vinegar to 1 cup of regular milk.
Leave it for a few minutes and then use as per normal. I rarely buy buttermilk so I use this trick ALL the time, in my muffins, cakes and quick breads.
TIPS FOR MAKING BANANA CAKE FROM SCRATCH
- Make sure you use very overripe, spotty bananas for maximum flavour. The smellier the better!
- You will need an electric mixer for this recipe. Start with room temperature butter, you don’t want it fridge cold but it shouldn’t be melty by any means.
- We start by beating together the butter and sugar, this process is known as creaming. After a few minutes, the two will combine and turn pale and creamy. This process helps create a nice light and fluffy cake. It can be tempting to beat for 30 seconds or so just to combine the butter and sugar but if you keep going for another minute or so, you’ll see it change texture and almost look a little ‘whipped’. Perfect!
- Next comes the eggs. Sometimes when you add the eggs, the cake batter can turn lumpy and look a little curdled. That’s fine.
- Add half of the dry ingredients and the mashed banana and buttermilk. Start to slowly mix together and then add the remaining dry ingredients. Transfer mixture to a cake tin and bake for 45-50 minutes. You’ll know it’s ready when a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
TIPS FOR MAKING CREAM CHEESE FROSTING
- You will need a hand mixer or stand mixer to make this frosting. Make sure you use a full fat block of cream cheese – not a light version or the spreadable kind.
- For seriously creamy frosting, make sure both your butter and your cream cheese are at room temperature.
- Once you beat together the butter and cream cheese, you need to add 3 cups of icing sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla.
- The frosting should be smooth and creamy. If it’s too thick, you can add a teaspoon of milk but I find it usually doesn’t need it.
MORE CAKEs we love
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Let’s Bake
Easy Banana Cake
Easy Banana Cake topped with cream cheese frosting.
Ingredients
Banana cake
- 210 grams (1 and 1/2 cups) plain flour or all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 115 grams (1/2 cup or 1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 100 grams (1/2 cup) caster sugar or granulated sugar
- 45 grams (1/4 cup) brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 120 ml (1/2 cup) buttermilk
- 180 grams (3/4 cup) mashed banana, (2–3 overripe bananas)
Cream cheese frosting
- 115 grams (1/2 cup or 1 stick) butter, softened
- 250 grams (1 and 1/4 cup) full fat cream cheese, softened, roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 375 grams (3 cups) icing sugar or powdered sugar, sifted
Instructions
- Grease and line an 8-inch round cake pan with baking or parchment paper. Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F) standard / 160 C (320 F) fan-forced.
- In a large bowl, add plain flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
- In a large mixing bowl, add butter and sugars and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed for 1-2 minutes until pale and creamy. Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time, beating until combined.
- Add 1/2 of the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, along with buttermilk and the mashed banana. Gently beat until just combined. Then add remaining dry ingredients.
- Transfer mixture to prepared pan and bake for approximately 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Leave to cool completely.
- To make the cream cheese frosting, add butter and cream cheese to a large mixing bowl. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed for 2-3 minutes until smooth and creamy. Add vanilla.
- Add sugar, 1 cup at a time, and continue to beat until smooth. Generously frost the top of your banana cake once it’s completely cooled.
Reena says
Made this today and it came out amazing. Such a easy recipe and smelt delicious!!
Jessica Holmes says
Love hearing that Reena!
Ann Lakna says
First time for a banana cake. IT WAS DELICIOUS!! without frosting, I also added a handful of chocolate chips, heavenly!! Thank you so much for this. Love from Sri Lanka.
Jessica Holmes says
Yaaay! So glad you enjoyed it Ann!
natalie says
it’s me again…
it didn’t go as I planned it to.
the cake fell apart😪
Jessica Holmes says
Sorry to hear that Natalie. Is that when you tried to remove it from the pan?
Natalie says
I can’t really find a block of cream cheese were I am, would cream cheese spread really not be good to use instead?
Jessica Holmes says
You can use it Natalie! It just may be more runny so you might need to chill the frosting in the fridge for a little bit.
Erin says
I made this entirely in the food processor, first creaming the butter and sugar, then adding the eggs, bananas and vanilla, then proceeded to alternate between the dry ingredients and the buttermilk, pulsing in between additions. The entire batter took 5 minutes to put together and it came out perfect; just a really lovely, easy cake with a beautiful crumb! I baked in an 8″ inch springform pan. I’m always happy to find a recipe that uses weight rather than volume (like most recipes do here in the US). I love baking by weight but can’t stand baking by volume so this recipe was a lovely find! Thank you!
Jessica Holmes says
How good is that! So glad you enjoyed it Erin! Thank you so much for the lovely feedback.
Chinwe says
Hi jessy, can u lay hands on any bread recipe that goes with yeast?
Jessica Holmes says
Hi, try my Cinnamon Roll recipe.
Chinwe says
I’ve been using this recipe and it’s mind blowing
Jessica Holmes says
I’m so glad you like it!
Ting says
The softest and most moist banana cake recipe I’ve ever tried. Great buttermilk tip too. Love how easy the recipe is to follow as well!
Jessica Holmes says
Yay! So happy to hear that!
Sisi says
Easy, sweet, moist & delicious! It topped my sister’s recipe off the no1 spot!!
Jessica Holmes says
Brilliant!
A says
Could you Use the same recipe for muffins?
Jessica Holmes says
Yes you could! Or try my recipe for Banana Muffins.
Brian says
Hi My name is Brian I’m just wondering if I can use every day milk instead of buttermilk
Kind regards
Brian
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Brian, it’s best to use buttermilk as the acidity will ensure this cake is lovely and soft. If you don’t have any on hand, you can make your own by adding 1 tablespoon of white vinegar to 1 cup whole or full fat milk. Hope that helps.
Nicole says
Very moist amd delicious!
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed it Nicole!
Val says
Sweet, moist and easy to make my partner loved it, I’m making my second one today
Jessica Holmes says
Aww love hearing that Val!
Brenda says
Hi,
If I used Self-Raising Flour, would the measurement still be the same ie. 210g?
Brenda
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Brenda, yes but self raising flour already has baking powder added so it would change the ratio – and potentially the end result.
Brenda says
Hi Jessica!
Thank you for the swift response.
I guess my question is how much Self-Raising Flour should I use to achieve the same result?
Jessica Holmes says
Aw I’m hesitant to recommend without trying it myself Brenda. Self raising flour has roughly 1.5 teaspoons of baking powder per 1 cup, so it’s hard to know exactly since I’ve used both baking powder and baking soda.
Dong Cortez says
Hi, I just made this. The banana cake was awesome but the icing is too sweet. Is it really 3 cups for this recepie. I just made half the icing and last than half the sugar. But it’s still too sweet. Am I missing something? Thanks for this recepie.
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed the cake! You can try adding a squeeze of lemon in the icing to cut through the sweetness.
Lisa says
This cake is a winner! I used only half the quantity of frosting as it seemed like quite a lot, and I sprinkled some chopped walnuts on top. I will definitely be making this regularly – thanks for the great recipe.
Jessica Holmes says
Yay! So glad you like it Lisa!
Dani M says
Hi Jessica!
How many eggs we have to use?
Thnx
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Dani, you need two eggs in this recipe.
Zahabiya says
lovely recipe! Absolutely delish 🤤 thank you so much for posting such tasty bakes.
Jessica Holmes says
So glad you enjoyed it!