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Ultimate Banana Cake Recipe

January 7, 2019 · 50 Comments

5 from 9 votes

Jump to Recipe

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!

Banana Cake

 

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 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!

Banana Cake
5 from 9 votes
Print

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!

Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword Banana Cake, Banana Cake Recipe, Brown Butter Frosting
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Servings 9 servings
Calories 388 kcal
Author Lauren

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

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray an 8x8 square dish with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients, excluding the sugar. Stir to combine and set aside.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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 Facts
Ultimate Banana Cake Recipe
Amount Per Serving
Calories 388 Calories from Fat 135
% Daily Value*
Fat 15g23%
Saturated Fat 4g25%
Cholesterol 52mg17%
Sodium 251mg11%
Potassium 174mg5%
Carbohydrates 59g20%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 39g43%
Protein 4g8%
Vitamin A 255IU5%
Vitamin C 2.6mg3%
Calcium 20mg2%
Iron 1.3mg7%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Like this banana cake? Try these other banana recipes:

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

Filed Under: Cakes, Desserts, Fruit, Recipes & Food

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Beth - Slice of Southern says

    October 7, 2011 at 4:29 am

    Oh by the way…my family is just outside of Nashville….have fun!

    Reply
  2. Kathryn says

    October 7, 2011 at 8:20 am

    Have fun in Nashville! This cake looks so light and fluffy and that frosting sounds amazing!

    Reply
  3. Katrina says

    October 7, 2011 at 10:23 am

    This sounds lovely. Browned butter anything is great in my book!

    Reply
  4. Shannon @ Healthiful Balance says

    October 7, 2011 at 10:27 am

    Oh my gosh..this looks so good! Im really craving this now! 🙂

    Reply
  5. Christina @ This Woman Cooks! says

    October 7, 2011 at 11:45 am

    We always have bananas dying in the fruit basket. I love this!

    Reply
  6. Beth - Slice of Southern says

    October 7, 2011 at 4:28 am

    5 stars
    Heaven….pure heaven!

    Reply
  7. Lauren at Keep It Sweet says

    October 7, 2011 at 1:52 pm

    Have a great time this weekend! The cake looks delicious!

    Reply
  8. Laurie @SimplyScratch says

    October 7, 2011 at 2:05 pm

    Have a great trip!! I have one too many bananas right now… hmmm I guess this cake will just have to be made! Drat 😉

    Reply
  9. Rachel @ The Avid Appetite says

    October 7, 2011 at 2:06 pm

    this looks so moist and perfect! Yum! Have a GREAT time in Nashville lady!

    Reply
  10. Aimee @ ShugarySweets says

    October 7, 2011 at 2:22 pm

    This look delicious. Thanks for sharing! Have a safe trip too!

    Reply
  11. Deborah says

    October 7, 2011 at 3:11 pm

    I totally pinned this off of someone yesterday! Looks amazing!!

    Reply
  12. Carrie says

    October 7, 2011 at 11:35 am

    5 stars
    I <3 brown butter frosting…. and banana cake!

    Reply
  13. Ali says

    October 8, 2011 at 9:47 am

    Pure bliss!! looks heavenly delicious. I’ll have to make this son. Have a safe trip 🙂

    Reply
  14. Emily says

    October 8, 2011 at 5:40 am

    Mmmm… sounds great! I love browned butter, I’ve never put it with banana before, but I bet its super good.

    Reply
  15. Jen Morris says

    October 9, 2011 at 2:36 am

    Discovered your blog via Pinterest (Nutella topped Red Velvet Oreo Cheesecakes-divine by the way). Anyway, this sounds delish! I may have to go get bananas just so I can let them turn brown! Look forward to reading more from you!

    Reply
  16. CouponClippingCook says

    October 9, 2011 at 6:09 am

    This cake looks so moist and delicious. The frosting sounds so good. I’m looking forward to trying this.

    Reply
  17. Yasmeen @ Wandering Spice says

    October 9, 2011 at 11:32 am

    Brown butter frosting… Sounds so, so good! Bananas are back to normal prices after being about $12/kg for a few months (due to flooding up north). Now I’m just looking for excuses to bake with them, and you have provided a perfect one!

    Enjoy Nashville… haven’t been there in years but have fantastic memories of it.

    Reply
  18. Katie says

    October 9, 2011 at 7:43 pm

    5 stars
    So I made this last night/this morning to take to my parent’s house for dinner tonight. It was so quick and easy and SO delicious. I left out the walnuts, and my baking time took about twice as the recipe calls for. Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, I see many more of these in my family’s future.

    Reply
  19. Jess says

    October 11, 2011 at 1:57 am

    Yummy! Brown butter frosting with banana cake sounds wonderful. I’ve always had cream cheese with banana cake. Must try this.

    Reply
  20. Jolene (www.everydayfoodie.ca) says

    October 11, 2011 at 3:47 am

    5 stars
    Love the flavours in that cake – I prefer spiced cakes over any other type.

    Reply
  21. Stephanie says

    October 23, 2011 at 10:41 pm

    I’m not sure what I did wrong, but I just tried making this and mine has chunks of cooked egg (I think…) in it. Also, the middle didn’t cook as much as the outside. Is it because I used a darker, nonstick pan? 🙁

    Reply
    • Lauren says

      October 24, 2011 at 2:28 am

      The only thing I can think of is the egg wasn’t evenly mixed in. A darker pan always gets darker edges, but it’s weird that the middle didn’t cook. Sorry it didn’t work! Darn!

      Reply
  22. KAY says

    January 17, 2012 at 9:03 am

    Is 325 degrees correct? I made this cake but it it took way long than 30 minutes to bake. It was pretty good :0)

    Reply
  23. Heather says

    March 24, 2012 at 1:03 am

    5 stars
    I just made this last week and it was wonderful!!! We ate the WHOLE cake is less than 24 hrs! I followed the directions exactly and only had to add a little time to the total baking time. LOVE IT!!!

    Reply
  24. Brittania says

    November 11, 2012 at 3:58 am

    If I were to make this in cupcake form, would you suggest any alterations?
    I also have cake flour (and regular flour)
    Which would produce better results?
    And what will the cake flour produce texture wise?

    Reply
  25. Crystal says

    July 14, 2013 at 2:38 pm

    5 stars
    I made this for my son’s first birthday. Amazing! I left out the nutmeg because I was out, used flax instead of eggs, and did cupcakes rather than cake. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    • Lauren says

      July 14, 2013 at 9:39 pm

      Ooh yum!! Your version sounds so yummy!

      Reply
  26. Clover says

    January 14, 2014 at 1:11 pm

    I’m not able to print this. Anyone else have this problem? When I click on the “click to print” the recipe isn’t there and nothing prints.

    Reply
    • MAL says

      February 6, 2015 at 8:10 am

      It is not printing for me as well. 🙁

      Reply
  27. Julie says

    May 22, 2014 at 8:27 pm

    So, I have made this a handful of times. The first time I did it came out wonderfully. Almost every (except maybe one more time) it just doesn’t turn out right. I change nothing, I’m not at a high elevation, I’ve tried different ovens and it either doesn’t cook all the way even though I keep it in longer and the middle sinks, or I try to keep cooking it and it gets too dry.
    The flavor is wonderful when it’s right but I’m so frustrated! Any advice? It has been in 30 minutes now, the edges are getting golden so I put some foil over top hoping it wouldn’t brown too far and get dry…crossing my fingers for some awesome banana cake!

    Reply
  28. Nancy says

    January 29, 2015 at 1:26 pm

    Unable to get recipe to print….print link just lists web address, same thru pinterest.

    Reply
    • Nancy Long says

      February 6, 2015 at 6:07 am

      I always cut and paste into word

      Reply
  29. lexie says

    February 6, 2015 at 3:35 am

    Do I have to use apple sauce?

    Reply
  30. Michelle Noyes says

    February 6, 2015 at 4:00 pm

    Is this cake heavy like banana bread?

    Reply
    • Lauren says

      February 6, 2015 at 4:15 pm

      No, more like a cross between cake and banana bread. Not too heavy at all.

      Reply
  31. Ping says

    February 9, 2015 at 5:03 pm

    Can you recommend what i substitute with the apple sauce ? Thks

    Reply
  32. Robin says

    February 10, 2015 at 4:54 pm

    5 stars
    Made this cake today and it’s very good – a wonderful alternative to banana bread. I doubled the frosting so that I’d be able to cover the top and sides. The recipe is a keeper!

    Reply
  33. dawn mcmicheaux says

    March 29, 2015 at 8:58 am

    when I use banana in any desert I roast them in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, it intensifies the flavor of the fruit, let cool and add to favorite recipe

    Reply
  34. Diane says

    July 24, 2015 at 6:10 pm

    I realize that you just re-did your website but no one can print your recipes…just sayin’

    Reply
    • Lauren says

      July 26, 2015 at 2:30 pm

      Some of my recipes have the wrong html coding. I just switched this one over so it is now printable!

      Reply
  35. Shelley Moengen says

    October 8, 2015 at 9:03 am

    5 stars
    This is sooo good! And, it’s pretty , too.

    Reply
  36. Eva Villarreal says

    October 13, 2015 at 10:18 am

    5 stars
    I LOVE this recipe, thank you for sharing!!!

    -My substitutions: I did 1/2 cup of oil, since I did not have any applesauce. And, I went 1/2 cup of brown sugar and about a 1/3 cup of regular, coarse sugar, not refined. It came out so moist and awesome!! :o)

    Reply
  37. Robin says

    October 24, 2019 at 7:26 am

    I can’t wait to try this recipe. Doing it this weekend !😃

    Reply

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