Ultimate Banana Cake Recipe

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This Ultimate Banana Cake Recipe is a simple scratch banana cake filled with walnuts and slathered with amazing brown butter frosting. Perfect for special occasions or anytime you have ripe bananas!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. This banana cake is amazing. Now, I like baked banana products just as much as the next person, but this brown butter frosting is what really takes the cake (see what I did there?) and is beyond delicious. It will take any dessert and make it special!

How to make this Banana Cake Recipe:

You only need a few pantry ingredients, ripe bananas and about an hour to create this sweet treat!

1. Using a whisk, combine the dry ingredients into a large bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, stir the wet ingredients together: sugar, oil, applesauce, eggs, vanilla and mashed bananas.
3. Incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet until a mostly lump-free batter forms.
4. Pour into 9×9 greased baking dish and bake at 325 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until baked through.
5. Make the frosting: brown your butter and then stir together with vanilla, powdered sugar and heavy cream.
6. Spread brown butter frosting over cooled cake and top with walnuts. Cut into pieces and serve!

Banana Cake Baking Troubles?

All ovens vary but here are some tips and tricks to try to work out some issues.

• Check Your Ovens Internal Temperature – Over time ovens become less accurate, there’s no way to prevent this, it just happens with repeated use. My suggestion is to use an internal oven thermometer to make sure your oven is accurate.
• Dark Cake Pan – A darker pan usually always results in darker edges. If this is happening, try placing tin foil on top of the cake to try and prevent browning. You can also try reducing the heat and increasing baking time. If you do this check your cake often with a toothpick until it comes out clean.
• High Altitude Baking – If you live at a higher altitude than most, you’ll need to change some baking measurements to get this cake right. Check here for some tips and tricks with this particular problem.

Like this banana cake? Try these other banana recipes:

• Ultimate Banana Pudding Recipe
• Banana Cream Pie with Toasted Coconut
• Banana Nut Bread Recipe
• Ultimate Banana Pudding Recipe
• Banana Pancakes with Chocolate Chips & Walnuts
• Magnolia Bakery Pumpkin Gingersnap Banana Pudding
• Banana Bread from House of Nash Eats

Like clockwork, within an hour, people just started showing up to my house. Nieces, nephews, neighbors, you name it. Lo and behold this cake was devoured and didn’t survive even 3 hours! Moral of the story: this cake is good. REALLY good.

So if you have browning bananas on your counter, this would be a great treat for your weekend! Printable recipe card below! Enjoy!

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5 from 15 votes

Ultimate Banana Cake Recipe

This Ultimate Banana Cake Recipe is made with walnuts and slathered with brown butter frosting. Enjoy on special occasions or just because!

servings 9 servings

Prep Time 15 mins

Cook Time 30 mins

Total Time 45 mins

Ingredients

for the cake-

• ▢ 1 1/2 cups flour
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• ▢ 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
• ▢ 1 cup granulated sugar
• ▢ 1/4 cup oil
• ▢ 1/4 cup plain applesauce unsweetened
• ▢ 2 eggs
• ▢ 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ▢ 2 large bananas mashed

for the frosting-

• ▢ 1/4 cup butter
• ▢ 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 cup powdered sugar
• ▢ 1 tablespoon heavy cream
• ▢ 1/4 cup chopped walnuts optional

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray an 8x8 square dish with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
• In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients, excluding the sugar. Stir to combine and set aside.
• In a different bowl, whip sugar, oil, and applesauce together. Stir in eggs, vanilla and mashed banana. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined. Pour into prepared dish and bake 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean when inserted. Cool completely.
• To make the frosting, place butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Just after the butter melts, start swirling the pan in small circles. After about 30 seconds or so, the butter should start foaming and will turn an amber color and smell nutty. Once this happens, remove from heat immediately and pour into a different container. Cool to room temperature.
• Once butter has cooled, whip together with vanilla, powdered sugar and cream until smooth and creamy. Spread over cooled cake and top with chopped walnuts, if desired. Store in an airtight container until ready to serve.

Nutrition

Calories: 388kcal | Carbohydrates: 59g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 52mg | Sodium: 251mg | Potassium: 174mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 39g | Vitamin A: 255IU | Vitamin C: 2.6mg | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 1.3mg

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Banana Cake, Banana Cake Recipe, Brown Butter Frosting