This is, hands down, the BEST banana cake I’ve ever had. It’s soft, moist and rich all at the same time! Once cooled this cake is topped with a totally irresistible lemon cream cheese frosting for a perfect dessert your family will love.
I love a good banana cake, it just reminds me of being a kid because my Grandpa and Grandma made the BEST banana cupcakes. I can still smell them baking in my grandma’s kitchen, waiting impatiently with my sisters.
This cake is reminiscent of my favorite banana cupcakes. It is soft and fluffy and incredibly moist and topped with my favorite ever lemony cream cheese frosting.
As much as I love a fluffy banana cake, I love it even more when it’s topped with an amazing cream cheese frosting! I add in a little bit of lemon zest and lemon juice for extra flavor in my cream cheese frosting but if you prefer, you can leave out the lemon and substitute vanilla.
Regardless of how you top it, once you try this cake, it’ll be your go-to. Every time you have overripe bananas on the counter you’ll want to make this recipe! In fact, I often buy extra bananas to ripen and make this cake!
Tips to ensure a soft moist result:
- Ensure your ingredients are at room temperature (eggs and butter)
- You need the acidity from the lemon juice (& milk) mixture. Subbing in just milk or cream won’t work. (You can use buttermilk in its place if needed).
- When mixing your butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla, beat the mixture until VERY fluffy, almost the consistency of a fluffy buttercream frosting. This should take about 5 minutes.
- When adding the flour mixture you want to mix until just combined. Over-mixing will cause a dense chewy result.
- The cooking time on this cake can vary! Check your cake at 55 minutes, if it isn’t ready, continue cooking until a toothpick comes out clean (this can be up to an additional 20 minutes depending on your oven). The result will be a moist and irresistible banana cake.
Happy Baking!
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups milk
- 2 ½ tablespoons fresh lemon juice divided
- 1 ⅓ cups mashed bananas about 4 medium bananas
- ⅔ cup unsalted butter softened
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Frosting
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- ⅓ cup butter softened
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice or vanilla extract
- 1 ½ teaspoons lemon zest from 1 lemon, optional
- 3-3 ½ cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 pan.
- Place 1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice in a measuring cup. Top to 1 ½ cups with milk. Set aside.
- Mix together mashed banana with 1 tablespoon lemon juice, set aside.
- Beat together butter, brown and white sugar until combined. Add in eggs one at a time and vanilla. Mix on high until light and fluffy (almost the texture of frosting).
- Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Alternate adding flour mixture and milk to egg mixture stirring just until combined. (Do not overmix). Fold in bananas. Pour into prepared pan.
- Put into the oven and reduce heat to 300°F. Bake 60 – 70 minutes (see note below) or just until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (do not over bake).
- Remove from oven and place in the freezer for 45 minutes to make the cake extra moist. Cool completely before frosting.
FROSTING
- Cream together butter & cream cheese until fluffy. Add in lemon zest and juice.
- Add powdered sugar a little at a time until you reach desired consistency. Spread over cooled cake.
Video
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
This recipe has been retested and updated 11/20/16.
Very slightly adapted from food.com
Cake was incredible, brought it to a cookout and it was devoured.
Wife wanted more so I made a batch of muffins. Also, incredible.
The frosting is fantastic!!
I am so happy to hear this recipe was a hit Ron!
Can I use buttermilk instead of milk plus lemon juice? Or I’ve also used milk plus white vinegar for banana bread? Not sure if this will work for cake. Thanks!
Absolutely you can use buttermilk. Or you can use white vinegar in place and it will not affect the taste at all.
anyone else ever forgot to take it out of freezer? Any idea if it will still be okay?
It will certainly be okay, this cake freezes well too! Let it thaw on the counter and enjoy!
Can I ask how the taste, density, etc differs between the Banana Bars with Cream cheese frosting and this The Best Banana cake?
Great question, Candi. The banana bars are much denser and fudgier—similar to a blondie or a brownie, and because they are thinner, you get more cream cheese frosting in every bite. The banana cake is lighter, fluffier, and has a traditional, airy cake texture.
I was the recipient of this cake and it is excellent (best cake I’ve ever had). However, I want to make it gluten-free for my son’s girlfriend (celiac) and have searched back an entire year in the comments for someone who has tried it. I see the responses from the author saying that others have tried it and to search the comments but I can’t find anything at all. Can you someone please reply back if they have tried it and with which flour (I’m thinking almond would make it too gritty)? Or point me to a comment or two for someone who has made it g/f? Thank you!
Sure thing, you’d need to go back a bit. Hope this helps!!
Linda – 2021/03/04
I made this cake as written only I used a cup for cup gluten free flour (and I used 420g instead of 3 cups) as we have 2 celiacs in our family. Although many say our taste buds have changed since eating gluten free, even our non celiac friends enjoyed this banana cake. It was lighter and moister than our typical banana bread. Will definitely make again.
Rosalie – 2018/06/19
OMG this is so good! I made it dairy free and gluten free and it turned out wonderful! I subbed the flour for Bobs Red Mill 1to 1, the milk for Almond milk and the butter for Earth Balance. I will definitely make it again!
Cathy – 2018/02/01
This cake is outstanding! I made it with Gluten Free flour, one to one ratio!
Mary – 2018/02/01
Excellent cake. I made it into cupcakes and iced with mocha buttercream icing. Also did a second recipe into cupcakes substituting my gluten free flour blend, both cakes were excellent. The gluten free cake was lighter and more tender than the regular flour version, as I have found with all cake I have made into gluten free. Thanks for a wonderful recipe.
Thank you so much for the quick reply, making as we speak, will let you know how it turns out!
I have made this recipe a few times and it’s been amazing every time. However, since cream cheese isn’t popular in my family, I have been using vanilla frosting and it tastes great! I am thinking about using half and half instead of milk.
I have made this recipe multiple times. I used it for my bunny cake at Easter. I’ve never frosted it. I decorated it with fresh fruit. I’ve never put in freezer and it still remained moist.
How important is the freezer part? I used a glass dish and my husband thought it might break going from the hot oven to the freezer.
That’s why there is no stars yet.
It helps to retain moisture in the dish but you can let it cool slightly prior to putting it in the freezer. Or let it cool and pop it in the fridge for a milder chill.
I used this recipe for cupcakes and they turned out perfect! I got 20 cupcakes and baked them for about 30 mins. This will be my new go to recipe :)
Can I cut back on the sugar by half?
I don’t recommend cutting the sugar that much. It can lead to a denser, dryer cake.
Would I be able to make this in circular cake pans (9×9)?
Many readers have succesfully made these in 9-inch round cake pans.
Will this turn out ok I I use a Gluten Free flour mix?
We have not made the recipe with gluten free flour JJ, but other readers have with great success! You can find more details in the comments. Enjoy the banana bread!
SUPERB!! Everyone, including me absolutely loved this cake. I think banana bread is so-so because it is so heavy. This cake was delightfully light and had a beautiful texture. It was so good I thought about not even using the frosting. But I did end up with a using it sparingly with some finely chopped walnuts. I bake a lot. I use a lot of on line recipes. This recipe was professionally written and easy to follow. Thank you. This is my Go to cake for parties and functions. Hats off to “Spend with Pennies”. I will be using many more of your recipes in the future.
That is so kind of you to say, Ron! I am so glad our recipes was such a hit for you. 🥰
This really is the best banana cake!! It was incredibly moist and we finished the whole thing in just two days. So good!!!
I want to add toasted walnuts to the Banana cake recipe..
would it suffice?
Walnuts are a great addition to this cake Jeannie!
can frozen bananas be used for this recipe?
Yes, they should be thawed first. Thawed bananas usually release a bit of liquid, you can lightly drain it and discard.
I feel like so many recipes turn out the same cake with a slightly different flavor or icing, but man is this one so much more!! It’s moist, full of flavor, and has an amazing crumb. The addition of lemon doesn’t make it lemony, it just lifts the flavor and balances the sweetness perfectly I just made one for myself and will make another this weekend for a Memorial Day party!
This cake looked delish so I thought I’d try a different recipe.
was disappointed, I followed the recipe and it looked lovely when I pulled it out of the oven however it didn’t cook evenly and was raw in the centre
I cooked it for 1hour and 10 to make sure. I thought the 300 F might have been to cold.
Have you checked your oven temperature with an oven thermometer? Based on the reviews, the cooking times as listed works well for most readers so I can’t say for sure what went wrong for you.
Cheryl, it’s not your fault! There is a typo in the recipe. First step states 350 degrees then step 6 says 300 degrees. I’d go with 350 next time. The author needs to fix the typo.
The recipe is correct as written. The oven is preheated to 350°F in step 1 and reduced to 300°F before baking in step 6. This cooking time works well for most readers as you can see by the reviews however, some ovens/baking pans do require an additional 20-30 minutes as mentioned in the notes. Hope that helps.
I bake a lot of cakes. This one was simple and one of the most delicious cakes I’ve made. So much better than banana bread. In fact, I’m not that big of a fan of banana bread. I made this last night and the whole family loved it. I’m making another one today to freeze because I have more bananas to use up.