This is hands down the best banana cake recipe I’ve made. It’s easy, made from scratch, wonderfully moist, and topped with the simplest cream cheese frosting!
Ever since we shared our favorite banana bread recipe, I’ve been excited to share our recipe for banana cake. I took inspiration from our popular carrot cake to make sure this cake is wonderfully moist and super flavorful. I experimented (many times) until I landed on this gem, and I’m so excited to share it with you!
What makes this cake recipe so special is using extra mashed banana and melted butter in the batter. This simplifies the process (goodbye mixer, hello whisk!) and creates a tender, exceptionally moist cake with an intense banana flavor that surpasses other recipes I’ve tried.
Key Ingredients
- Bananas: I use a bit more mashed banana in my banana cake than I’ve seen in other recipes (3 medium). For the best cake, use very ripe bananas. I’m talking brown and speckled bananas. They are sweeter and make the baked cake soft and moist.
- Melted Butter and Oil: The butter adds incredible flavor, while 2 tablespoons of oil keeps the middle super moist. I’ve used avocado, safflower, and vegetable oil with excellent results. Melted coconut oil works, too, but the baked cake will have a light coconut flavor. I love this combo for cakes, and use both butter and oil for my favorite easy chocolate cake.
- Eggs: This cake calls for 2 eggs, which adds flavor and gives the cake some structure.
- Sugar: I love a combination of white and brown sugar. I have used 100% brown sugar, and while it was delicious, the brown sugar does make it more moist, which, because this cake is already so moist in the middle, made the cake ever-so-slightly dense.
- Sour Cream: This is the last trick in my arsenal for a moist center. Sour cream adds fat to our cake batter, which makes our banana cake extra tender and moist.
- Flour: I use all-purpose flour, but this recipe works with spelt flour or your favorite gluten-free flour blend for a gluten-free banana cake.
- Baking soda: This helps our cake rise. We don’t add baking powder (this cake recipe does not need it). Check that your baking soda has not been open for longer than 6 months (it loses its potency after that).
- Salt, Cinnamon, and Vanilla Extract: These make our cake taste amazing, resulting in an ever-so-slightly spiced cake.
- Cream Cheese Frosting: I keep the frosting for this cake really simple and a little less sweet than your typical cream cheese frosting. The banana cake has so much flavor that when I tested various frostings with it, many overpowered it. So, this stripped-down frosting with three ingredients (cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar) was the winner! That said, if you love the creamier frosting from our carrot cake recipe, you can substitute it! For a chocolate option, try our chocolate buttercream frosting.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make the Best Banana Cake
Tip 1: Use very ripe bananas. This holds true for all of our banana recipes. Unripe or barely ripe bananas won’t give you the same flavor, sweetness, and moisture as overripe, brown, and speckled bananas. I’ve seen some suggestions for speeding up banana browning, but the only thing I’ve found to do the job is to place them in a paper bag for an extra day or two. Patience is key on this one.
Tip 2: Whisk wet and dry ingredients separately. The cake batter couldn’t be easier. You only need two bowls, a whisk, and a spoon. Whisk the dry ingredients together in one bowl and whisk the wet ingredients together in another. When both are ready, gently fold them together. This helps prevent overmixing and keeps the banana cake tender.
Tip 3: Make our cream cheese frosting. It took a few tries to get this one right. I started with a classic recipe, but it was too sweet. After testing and adjusting, I landed on the version below, which is less sugary and perfectly balanced with the strong banana flavor of our cake. It comes together in about five minutes with an electric mixer or stand mixer.
Note, this photo was taken when we made this recipe in a round cake pan for our video. An 8-inch or 9-inch square pan or round cake pan works really well for this cake recipe.
Tip 4: Let it rest overnight (if you can wait). This cake is delicious right after frosting, but the banana flavor deepens even more by the next day. As it sits, the flour fully absorbs the banana’s moisture and sweetness. If you think it’s good on day one, wait until day two. It’s even better.
More of Our Favorite Banana Recipes
Easy Banana Cake
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
This is hands-down the best banana cake I’ve made, and it’s easy! I love this cake so much and can’t wait for you to make it. Wait until you have brown speckly bananas. Otherwise, the cake will not have enough banana flavor. This cake is lovely the day you make it, but I prefer the flavor the next day (it tastes even more like bananas), making this is a fantastic cake to make in advance!
Watch Us Make the Recipe
You Will Need
Banana Cake3 medium bananas, ripe with brown speckles, 1 ¼ cups mashed banana (330g)
6 tablespoons salted butter, melted and cooled slightly, see tips (85g)
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled (195g)
¼ cup granulated sugar (50g)
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons brown sugar (38g)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
¼ cup sour cream (55g)
Cream Cheese Frosting4.5 ounces room temperature cream cheese (128g)
6 tablespoons room temperature salted butter, see tips (85g)
1 ½ cups powdered sugar, sifted if lumpy (170g)
Directions
1Prep: Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and grease a 9×9-inch square baking pan (or use a 9-inch round cake pan). You can also line it with parchment paper to make removing the cake easier from the pan.
2Prepare the batter: In a large bowl, whisk 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon.
3Mash the bananas in a separate bowl until almost smooth. Then, whisk in 3 tablespoons brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of oil, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 2 eggs, and 1/4 cup sour cream.
4Add the mashed banana mixture and the melted butter to the bowl with dry ingredients and whisk until combined.
5Bake the cake: Spread the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and then bake until the top is springy when lightly pressed, 25 to 35 minutes.
6Remove the cake from the oven and cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then carefully transfer the cake out to a cooling rack. Cool completely before frosting.
7Make the frosting: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and butter with a handheld mixer at medium speed until smooth and creamy, for about 1 minute.
8Beat in the powdered sugar, a 1/4 cup at a time, until combined. Continue to beat at medium speed for 30 to 45 seconds until the frosting is light and fluffy.
9When the banana cake is completely cool to the touch, frost the top, swirling the cream cheese frosting all over. Use as much or as little of the frosting as you like.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Storing: The frosted banana cake lasts at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. I keep it covered with plastic wrap or use a cake keeper or large bowl turned upside down to cover the cake. You can refrigerate unfrosted cake layers for up to 5 days or freeze them for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before adding your frosting.
- Salted butter: I typically use salted butter for this recipe (for the cake and frosting). If you have unsalted butter, add ⅛ teaspoon of extra salt to the cake batter and a small pinch to the frosting.
- Room temperature butter and cream cheese: You will need this for the frosting. If I forget to remove them from the fridge far enough in advance, I use my oven’s “proof” setting, which makes the oven between 70°F and 90°F. I place my butter and cream cheese inside and turn the oven off after 20 minutes. In about 40 minutes, the butter and cream cheese will be soft enough to use in the recipe.
- Measuring the flour: Either weigh it or use the “spoon and level” method: Fluff the flour, spoon it into the measuring cup, then level off the top with a flat edge.
- Make larger cake: Double the recipe and bake in a 9×13-inch baking pan. Expect a slightly longer bake time (40 to 50 minutes)
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
I made this banana cake for the February 2026 challenge and my family was so excited to try it that I forgot to take a picture until after I had already cut into it. Honestly, it’s so spongey and delicious. Not overly sweet so it’s perfect to have as an afternoon snack with a cup of tea.
Really good. I added nuts to the top…taste just like banana bread! Please add an other entry for the challenge.
Love the addition of the nuts on top. That would be delicious! 🙂