This turned out to be one super moist and ridiculously flavorful little cake.
I love it when the baking Gods smile down.
I didn’t want to make anything complicated or fussy because I’m on vacation in Aruba.
I also wanted to keep it reasonably healthy since every day is a bikini day here.
There’s no butter in the cake itself, just 1 egg, and I used banana-flavored Greek yogurt.
I was shocked when I saw banana Chob for sale in an Aruban grocery store, and promptly snagged a couple. It’s my favorite yogurt for baking.
The cake is similar to the Banana Pudding Cake with Vanilla Caramel Glaze in my cookbook. However, this cake is slightly smaller, doesn’t call for pudding, and the glaze is even easier.
To make the glaze, you can simply melt the butter or melt a vegan buttery-spread in the micro. But I prefer to brown it. If you’ve never browned butter before, read this tutorial or this or this.
The Cliff’s notes are to simply cook the butter until little brown specks appear, keep on swirling the pan, and don’t let the brown specks turn black. The process takes about 3 to 4 minutes and it’s easy.
I don’t know why people make such a big deal over browning butter, but it really adds such another level of nutty, rich flavor and it’s 4 minutes very well spent.
Pour the buttery glaze over the soft, warm cake, and let it soak in. I made the cake at night, glazed, and covered the cake with foil. By morning the glaze had soaked in almost completely.
It seeps into the nooks and crannies of the cake, and imparts such a comforting flavor. It makes an already moist and tender cake even more so.
If you need a little banana cake that you don’t have to drag your mixer out for, and takes just minutes to whisk together, this is the one.
It’s soft, fluffy, and light, with just enough density to be satisfying.
If you’re like me, ripe bananas seem to multiply on the counter, and you can never have too many banana and banana recipes. I have 40+ Banana Bread and Banana Dessert Recipes.
Add this one to the list.
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Browned Butter Glaze Soaked-Greek Yogurt Banana Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 large egg
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ¼ cup canola or vegetable oil
- 6 ounces Greek yogurt (I used Chobani Low-Fat Banana
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
- 1 cup mashed ripe bananas, about 2 large or 3 small/medium
Browned Butter Glaze
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, 3/4 of 1 stick
- about 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch salt, optional and to taste
Instructions
- For the Cake – Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-by-8-inch pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; or grease and flour the pan; set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together egg, sugars, oil, yogurt, and vanilla until smooth and incorporated.
- Add the flour, baking soda, optional salt, and stir until just combined; don’t overmix.
- Add the bananas and stir to just incorporate.
- Turn batter out into prepared pan and bake for about 35 minutes, or until the top is domed, golden, center is set, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. At about the 20 minute mark, or at any point if your cake is getting a bit too golden or dark before the center is setting, tent with foil (lay a sheet of foil over the top of your cake). I tented at the 20 minute mark and baked for 35 minutes total. Baking times could vary from 25 to 45 minutes depending on water content of the bananas, yogurt, climate, and oven variances.
- Allow cake to cool in pan on a wire rack while making the glaze.
- For the Browned Butter Glaze – Add butter to a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan and cook over medium heat until butter has melted and begins to brown and brown specks appear; the process usually takes 3 to 5 minutes. During that time, the butter will hiss, foam, sputter, and make lots of noise. This is the water releasing. After the noises subside, small brown specks will begin to appear. Swirl pan frequently throughout the whole process, and nearly continuously after you see the specks because that’s when the butter is prone to burning, and the specks can go from brown to black. I push the envelope and cook the butter as long as I possibly can to develop the most amount of flavor.
- After butter is browned to your liking, transfer to a heat-safe medium-sized bowl.
- Whisk in the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, and optional salt until smooth.
- Pour glaze over warm cake. Smooth it lightly with a spatula.
- Cover cake and allow it to rest so glaze can seep in before serving. I suggest at least 2 to 3 hours; I rested my cake overnight. Cake will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Thanks for the entries in the 3-Piece Baking Set and Gluten-Free Dough Giveaway and the $100 My Sweet Muffin Giveaway
What’s your favorite banana recipe?
Averie, it looks so delicate and moisty. And this glaze – what an idea.
thanks Marta!
Yum, all of these recipes are making me crave fall and apple cider. Delish!
Gosh, I know. It’s weird that it’s already that time of year (soon!) – wow!
Mhmm I love when you do things with Greek yogurt and bananas Averie! Especially when it’s in the form of cake ;) Together they make the perfect textural combination- moist and fluffy. And I bet this cake is super sweet, yet doesn’t make you feel all guilty about eating it. Love that! I’ve been whipping banana in my oatmeal lately because it really lends the oats a thicker, creamier texture. Ever tried it?
I sure have! I have so many old (2009) recipes that use bananas + oats/oatmeal, you name it, yes I have tried so many!
And the cake is sweet, but not ‘super sweet’. It’s pleasant; but more like the sweetness of banana bread, not like white birthday sheet cake :)
I love cakes like this, and that glaze looks fabulous!
Thanks, Marcie!
I’m game. I have 3 brown bananas that the hubby said I need to throw away, I assured him no way Jose those are prime for making banana bread!!
Super brown bananas are a baker’s dream! Enjoy whatever you make – I have 40+ banana recipes I linked to so if you try any, LMK!
This cake looks like quite a treat! Love when the glaze soaks into the cake. Those desserts are the best!
And they get kind of sticky and a smidge gooey – I love that :)
Browned butter glaze soaked greek yogurt banana cake…say that 10 times fast! Sounds delicious :)
Averie, I love how incredibly moist, light and fluffy this cake looks! I love banana cakes/bread/loaves but sometimes they’re too dense. This is perfect. Did you make this and take these photos in Aruba? I can’t even get my photos this gorgeous at home, much less on vacation! I’m going to read your Aruba post now – I wish I were there too, basking in the sun and eating banana cake!
I did make this cake and took the pics here. I will say this is the only photo shoot in recent memory here that I’ve done that I actually like. I got very lucky. My house here was built to keep sun OUT to keep the house cool; the opposite of what a photographer wants, which is sun IN! Most pics here are horribly dark, dingy, and I have to shoot at a very high ISO so they look grainy, and then I crank up the exposure settings in Lightroom, but even so, it’s just never as good as shooting in properly lit conditions!
If there is brown butter in the recipe, you can call me sold.
Wow, Averie – I could drink that glaze it looks sooo good!!! Love this cake!!!
I love getting the vacation recipes, and this cake looks so great. Keep enjoying your vacation! :)
Going to try! Thanks Amanda :)
This looks awesome, Averie! Now I can make something other than banana bread with all those bananas. Yum!
I have so many recipes linked in the post, too – including a 6-banana recipe. So that should take care of a few if you have extras :)
I love love love all of your cake recipes these days Averie. And this one is the winner. That glaze? Holy mackerel. Brown butter and bananas just go together. Sorta like chocolate and peanut butter. I love moist banana cakes and breads, there is quite nothing like it! And the greek yogurt + oil makes this cake fabulously moist indeed. Yet another winning recipe from Averie to use up my rotting bananas. Pinned!
This is the one and only photo shoot since I’ve been here that I actually don’t hate :) Thanks for the pin and totally LOLing at your rotting bananas comment :)
Well…well, I now know what I’m using my ripe bananas on! Thanks!
Greek yogurt in cake is so, so winning. The crumb that it produces is just irresistible and I love that you added in bananas and threw a brown butter glaze on top. Perfect cake, Averie!
Glazes are a MUST around here :)
Think I could successfully sub coconut oil for the canola?
Yes and look at the backlinks/related recipes in the post. There are 2-3 recipes I linked that DO use coconut oil and call for it specifically :)