Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting — 🍌🍰 The BEST banana cake recipe because it’s soft, tender, moist, and bursting with banana flavor thanks to the 4 bananas used! Tangy-yet-sweet cream cheese frosting takes this cake over the top and makes it a guaranteed family FAVORITE! Fast and easy to make!
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Best Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe
I am no stranger to banana recipes. If there is one thing I’ve been making consistently since 2009 when I started my blog, it’s banana breads, banana bars, banana cakes, banana smoothies, and so much more!
However, it’s been a while since I posted a new banana recipe.
Rather than making another version of banana bread — since I have over 30 different banana bread recipes! — I thought banana cake.
And this isn’t just any banana cake. It’s the best and easiest banana cake!
Soft, tender, moist, with texture that is just dense enough but not heavy, and filled with robust banana flavor thanks to the four bananas used in the cake!
This easy banana cake is made in a 9×13-inch pan to keep things much easier than making and frosting a layer cake.
The tangy cream cheese frosting is the true icing on the cake. Of course, you don’t have to frost the cake, or you can use another type of frosting such as buttercream or chocolate frosting. But cream cheese + banana pairs so well and was the natural frosting choice for me.
Ingredients in Banana Cake
You’ll need the following easy-to-find fridge and pantry ingredients:
For the cake:
- Milk + lemon juice OR buttermilk
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Baking powder
- Ground cinnamon
- Salt
- Unsalted butter – must be room temperature
- Granulated sugar
- Light brown sugar
- Large eggs
- Greek yogurt – or sour cream
- Vanilla extract
- Ripe bananas
For the cream cheese frosting:
- Cream cheese – must be room temperature
- Unsalted butter – must be room temperature
- Confectioners’ sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Salt
Note: All ingredients amounts are listed in the recipe card section when you keep scrolling down.
How to Make a 9×13-inch Banana Cake
Making this banana cake is a cinch! Follow my straightforward directions for the best banana cake:
To make the cake:
- Combine milk with lemon juice or just set your buttermilk aside.
- In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, with a whisk and set the dry ingredients aside.
- Beat the butter until it’s smooth before adding the sugars and beating to combine. Add the eggs, Greek yogurt, vanilla, and beat to incorporate. Add the bananas and beat them in.
- Alternate between adding in the buttermilk and dry ingredients mixture in three rounds.
- Turn the batter out and bake for about 45 minutes.
To make the cream cheese frosting:
- Simply beat together the cream cheese and butter, before adding confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, and salt.
- Frost your cake after it’s cooled completely and serve up your masterpiece!
- Garnish with bananas on top and a sprinkle of cinnamon if you’d like.
Recipe FAQs
When I just can’t be bothered, Duncan Hines Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting is my go-to trick to frost a cake. Scratch is always better, but this is a really close second.
There are so many different kinds of frosting from whipped and easy-to-spread to homestyle creamy. Honestly, I’m not quite sure of how they all differ exactly.
Easy-to-spread is great so you don’t “rip” your banana cake as you’re spreading the frosting. Approximately 14 ounces of frosting in a tub covers a 9×13-inch cake in my experience.
If you want to make a layer cake, I suggest making three 8-inch round cakes OR two 9-inch round cakes.
For those wanting to make a Bundt, use a big 12-cup Bundt pan.
Note: I have only made the cake as written as a 9×13 so make sure if you alter the recipe that you don’t fill either round cake pans for a layer cake nor a Bundt cake pan more than 2/3-full. You potentially may need to discard some batter based on your exact variables.
If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, that’s fine. You’ll want to sour regular milk by adding 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to 1 cup of 2% or whole milk, let it stand 5 minutes, stir with a small spoon, and use that in the recipe.
You can also use powdered buttermilk and mix it as directed on the packaging to create 1 cup of buttermilk.
My bananas were at the point of ripeness where the top stem part was detaching from the peeling when I picked up the bunch, implying they were very ripe.
I suggest using very ripe bananas for a couple reasons:
1. They’re naturally sweeter and this isn’t an overly sweet cake so starting with nice and ripe bananas will give you the best tasting cake.
2. If they’re ripe enough you can simply add them whole straight into your mixing bowl when the time comes for them in the recipe and your mixer will make quick work of mashing them for you.
Rely upon a nicely golden slightly domed top, making sure it’s set and springy to the touch. And do the clean toothpick test for the cake interior.
Pay close attention to how your banana cake is looking as the baking time is nearing a close. You don’t want to overbake because your cake will be drier.
And if you accidentally underbake your cake, you cannot then just put it back in the oven. Baking doesn’t work like that. The interior temperature will never get hot enough to fully cook through and set the cake after you’ve taken it out, it’s cooled a bit, and only then you realized your error.
45 to 50 minutes is a good estimate for baking time but it depends on your climate, oven, exact ingredients used, and so forth. Go by when your toothpick comes out clean, regardless what the clock says!
I am comfortable with storing frosted baked goods at room temperature for a day or so. If you’re not, then store your cake covered and airtight in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. However, it’s worth nothing that cakes always dry out a bit in the fridge as time passes.
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Best Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Banana Cake
- 1 cup 2% or whole milk + 1 tablespoon lemon juice OR 1 cup buttermilk, at room temp
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- 1 ½ cups unsalted butter, softened to room temp
- 1 cup granulated sugar, or 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 cups for a sweeter cake
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 5 ounces Greek yogurt or sour cream, about 1/2 heaping cups
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 4 medium very ripe bananas, about 1 3/4 to 2 cups total mashed banana
Cream Cheese Frosting* (See Notes)
- 8 ounces brick-style cream cheese, softened to room temp (do not use anything labeled lite, fat free, or whipped)
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temp
- 3 to 3 ½ cups confectioners’s sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt, or to taste
Instructions
Banana Cake
- Preheat oven to 350F and line a 9×13-inch baking pan with foil if desired for easier cleanup although it's optional and spray well with cooking spray. Tip – I like to use a square cornered 9×13-inch pan because they're a bit deeper but use what you have; set aside.
- To a glass measuring cup, add the lemon juice, top with the milk, and allow to set while you prep the cake batter. If using buttermilk, no need to also use lemon juice; simply set it out and have it at room temp and ready.
- To a large mixing bowl, add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and whisk to combine; set aside.
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large mixing bowl and handheld electric mixer), add the butter and beat on high speed for about 2 minutes, or until light and fluffy. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the sugars and beat to incorporate and until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the eggs, Greek yogurt (one small 5 ounce container of Chobani is what I used) or sour cream, vanilla, and beat to incorporate, about 1 minute. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the bananas and beat to incorporate. Tip – If your bananas are sufficiently ripe, you can simply add them whole and your mixer will mash them in seconds. However, if they're not very ripe and are at all on the hard side, I suggest mashing them ahead of time and adding them now, already mashed.
- Add half the dry ingredients mixture and half the milk or buttermilk and beat lightly to incorporate.
- Repeat by adding the other half of the dry ingredients, the remainder of the milk, and beat lightly to incorporate. Do not overmix. Batter will be thick and somewhat lumpy from the bananas; this is normal and don't try to smooth it out.
- Turn the batter out into the prepared pan and bake for about 45 to 50 minutes, or until cake is set on top, lightly golden browned and springy to the touch, and a toothpick test in the center of the cake comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter.
- Allow cake to rest in the pan as it cools. It's normal for the cake to fall a bit as it cools. While the cake cools, make the frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or large mixing bowl and handheld electric mixer), add the cream cheese, butter, and beat together for 2 minutes, or until smooth and creamy. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add 3 cups confectioners' sugar, vanilla, salt, and beat on low speed initially to incorporate the sugar, then increasing to high speed, and beat for about 2 minutes.
- If desired, based on the consistency of the frosting, you may wish to add up to an additional 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar if you want a slightly thicker frosting.
- Turn the frosting out over the cake and lightly spread it to evenly frost the cake.
- Serve immediately or when desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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