Banana Cake Recipe with Cream Cheese Frosting

This banana cake recipe makes a two layer 8 inch cake from scratch: 3 ripe bananas in the batter, buttermilk for a soft crumb, and cream cheese frosting on top. The layers bake at 350°F for 30 to 35 minutes, the whole cake takes about 2 hours with cooling, and it serves 10.

The one extra step is in the middle. A fourth banana gets mashed with a spoonful of brown sugar and some cinnamon and spread over the bottom layer before the frosting goes on, so every slice has a strip of fresh banana through the center.

What Goes Into One Two Layer Banana Cake

• Pans: two 8 inch round cake pans, greased and lined with parchment
• Bananas: 4 large in total, 3 mashed into the batter (about 1½ cups) and 1 for the middle layer
• Batter: 2½ cups (315 g) flour, ¾ cup (170 g) butter, 1 cup white sugar, ½ cup brown sugar, 3 eggs, 1 cup buttermilk
• Frosting: 8 oz cream cheese, ½ cup butter, 3 cups powdered sugar
• Time: 25 minutes prep, 30 to 35 minutes baking, 1 hour cooling, about 2 hours total
• Yield: 10 slices
• Keeps: 4 days covered in the fridge

How Ripe Should Bananas Be for Banana Cake?

Riper than you would eat them. The skins should be heavily freckled or mostly brown and the fruit soft enough to mash with a fork. That is when the starch has turned to sugar, and the banana flavor comes through clearly after baking. Yellow bananas with a green tip give a pale, bland cake.

Measure if your bananas are small or huge. Three large ones give about 1½ cups mashed. Going well past that sounds like more flavor, but the extra fruit weighs the crumb down and leaves a gummy band in the middle of each layer. If your bananas are not ready, bake them in their skins at 300°F for 15 to 20 minutes until the skins turn black, then cool and mash. They soften, though they never get quite as sweet as bananas that ripened on the counter.

Brown sugar in the batter adds moisture and a light caramel note that suits banana. Buttermilk keeps the crumb tender. No buttermilk? Put 1 tablespoon lemon juice in a measuring cup, fill it to 1 cup with milk, and let it sit 5 minutes. And if you like banana with peanut butter, a layer of peanut butter frosting in place of half the cream cheese frosting works well with this cake.

Mixing the Batter From Scratch

Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in one bowl and set it aside. In a large bowl, beat the soft butter with both sugars for about 3 minutes, until the mixture looks paler and fluffy. This is where the cake gets its lift, so give it the time.

Beat in the eggs one at a time, then the mashed bananas and vanilla. The batter may look a little curdled at this point. That is the banana, and it smooths out once the flour goes in. Add the dry mix in three parts, alternating with the buttermilk, starting and ending with flour. Stop as soon as the last streak of flour disappears. Beating longer builds gluten, and the cake comes out tough with tunnels.

When the Layers Are Done

Divide the batter evenly between the pans. A kitchen scale makes this quick, and even layers stack flat. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 30 to 35 minutes. They are done when the tops are golden, spring back when pressed lightly, and a toothpick in the center comes out clean or with a few dry crumbs.

Only have 9 inch pans? The same batter works, but the layers are thinner, so start checking at about 25 minutes. Cool the layers in the pans for 10 minutes, then turn them out onto a rack and let them cool completely, about an hour. Warm cake melts cream cheese frosting on contact.

Stacking the Banana Cinnamon Middle

Mash the last banana with 1 tablespoon brown sugar and ½ teaspoon cinnamon. It should look loose and a bit rough, like spiced baby food. Set the first layer on your plate and spread the banana mixture over it in a thin, even coat, leaving about ½ inch clear around the edge.

That clear border matters. The banana layer is wet, and if it reaches the edge, the top layer slides on it and banana seeps out the side. Cover the banana with a layer of frosting, set the second cake on top, and press gently. Then chill the stacked cake for 20 to 30 minutes before you frost the top and sides. The cold frosting grips, and the cake stops shifting.

Want a thicker, sliceable banana filling instead of fresh mash? My cooked banana cake filling holds its shape between layers and fits this cake too.

Cream Cheese Frosting That Holds Its Shape

Beat the soft butter and cream cheese until smooth, then add the powdered sugar one cup at a time, the vanilla and a pinch of salt. Use brick cream cheese, not the spreadable kind from a tub, which has more water and gives a soft, slumping frosting. The butter should be soft enough to dent but still cool. For extra frosting to pipe, my cream cheese frosting and cream cheese buttercream both pair well here.

Cream cheese frosting suits banana better than plain buttercream. Its tang cuts the sweetness of ripe bananas, and it stays soft after a night in the fridge, where buttercream sets hard. Finish with a few banana slices and a pinch of cinnamon if you like, but add the slices right before serving. They brown on the cake within a few hours.

Banana Cake or Banana Bread: What Changes?

Both start with ripe bananas, but they are built differently. Banana cake creams butter with more sugar, uses buttermilk, and bakes as thin round layers, so the crumb is lighter, finer and soft enough to frost. Banana bread usually has less sugar, is stirred together rather than creamed, and bakes for about an hour in a loaf pan, so it is denser and sliced like bread.

For a birthday or a table of guests, make the cake. For breakfast or a lunchbox, banana bread is the easier bake.

Dense, Sunken or Sliding: Fixes

• Dense, gummy layers: too much banana or the batter was overmixed after the flour went in. Measure about 1½ cups mashed and stop mixing at the last streak of flour.
• Middle sank: the layers came out early or the oven door opened in the first 20 minutes. Bake until the center springs back, not just until the edges brown.
• Top layer slides: the banana mash went to the edge or the cake was still warm. Leave the border, and chill the stacked cake before frosting the outside.
• Runny frosting: tub cream cheese, warm butter or a warm kitchen. Chill the bowl 15 to 20 minutes, then beat for a few seconds.
• Bland banana flavor: the bananas were not ripe enough. Wait for brown, freckled skins.

Making It a Day Ahead and Storing It

The layers can be baked a day ahead. Cool them completely, wrap each one tightly and keep them at room temperature, then make the banana mash and frosting on the day you stack the cake. For longer, freeze the unfrosted layers wrapped in plastic and foil for up to 3 months and thaw them in the wrapping so they stay moist.

Once frosted, the cake keeps covered in the fridge for up to 4 days, and the banana middle keeps it from drying out. Straight from the fridge it is firm, so let slices sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes before serving. If you still have bananas on the counter after this, try banana cream pie or banana pudding.

Pans, Buttermilk and Banana Counts

How many bananas do I need for this banana cake?

Four large ripe bananas: 3 mashed into the batter, about 1½ cups, and 1 mashed with brown sugar and cinnamon for the middle layer.

Can I bake this banana cake in a 9×13 pan?

Yes, as a single sheet cake. Bake at 350°F and start checking at about 35 minutes, since one deep layer takes longer than two thin ones. Spread the banana mash under the frosting on top instead of in the middle.

Can I make banana cake without buttermilk?

Yes. Stir 1 tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar into enough milk to make 1 cup and let it stand 5 minutes. The crumb is a touch less fluffy than with real buttermilk.