If you’re tired of making banana bread with those old bananas of yours, you need to try this Banana Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting! A soft homemade cake warmed up with a hint of cinnamon and slathered with the best icing for banana cake ever will make you forget all about making banana bread ever again.
Why We Love This Cake
There are several reasons why this homemade banana cake recipe with cream cheese frosting has been a family favorite for nearly 20 years:
- A moist banana cake with tons of banana flavor (no artificial flavoring here!).
- It’s not a banana cake recipe with cake mix. Why buy a banana cake mix when I always have all of the ingredients right in the pantry and fridge already?!
- Silky smooth luscious cream cheese frosting gets leveled up with the addition of some irresistible nutty brown butter.
- A large single layer cake that acts like a banana snack cake and feeds a big crowd.
- Brown butter cream cheese frosting. Need we say it again??
Banana Cake Ingredients
If there ever was a simple banana dessert recipe to make, this is it!
Here is the grocery list for ingredients you need to make this cake. Be sure to keep scrolling down to the recipe card for the full printable Ingredients list and the full recipe!
Dry Ingredients:
- All purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Ground cinnamon – This goes into the cake batter and as a sprinkle on top of the frosting.
- Table salt
Wet Ingredients:
- Bananas – You’ll want them to be very ripe (almost overripe and black).
- Unsalted butter – Make sure you’re using room temperature butter.
- Sugar – Both white sugar and dark brown sugar are needed here.
- Large eggs – Room temperature eggs are best here.
- Pure vanilla extract
- Buttermilk – Be sure to use liquid buttermilk, not powdered buttermilk.
- Cream cheese – Full-fat cream cheese works best for cream cheese frosting recipes. It won’t split and it just tastes the best!
- Powdered sugar – This is also known as confectioners’ sugar.
Why Is Buttermilk Needed?
When buttermilk mixes with baking soda, it sparks a chemical reaction that gives baked treats a “lift” in the texture. For this cake, the buttermilk and baking soda reaction creates a fluffy banana cake with moist crumbs.
If you don’t have buttermilk, you can mix a tablespoon of lemon juice or vinegar with a cup of milk to make a cup of liquid buttermilk.
Banana Cake Frosting Options
Should you not want to take a few minutes to brown the butter for the cream cheese frosting recipe in the recipe card below, you have other options!
First, you could make this homemade banana cake recipe with a tangy cream cheese frosting. There’s nothing wrong with a classic!
Or, you could switch things up and make a banana cake with peanut butter frosting. My peanut butter frosting recipe is famously loved by many, many readers and would be ahhh-mazing on top of banana cake.
If you want to really ramp things up here, go with my chocolate cream cheese frosting. It might just be my favorite frosting recipe ever!
And lastly, you COULD opt to not put any frosting on top of the cake at all. Believe me, nobody is going to turn down a piece of banana snack cake when offered to them.
Is This a Healthy Banana Cake Recipe?
Friends, this is cake. Cake, in most forms, is not meant to be a wholesome treat. And I, for one, do not like to anger the dessert gods by attempting to make a healthy cake.
Butter, sugar, flour, eggs, cream cheese, more butter. You get the idea here, right?
Can You Freeze Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting?
You absolutely can freeze this frosting! To freeze, pack the frosting into an airtight container, freezer-safe bowl, or silicone molds, like Souper Cubes, cover tightly, and freeze for up to 2 months.
When you’re ready to use the frosting, allow it to thaw in the fridge overnight then stir it up well and slather away.
MORE BANANA RECIPES YOU’LL LOVE
- Chocolate Pecan Banana Coffee Cake
- Double Chocolate Banana Bread
- Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Seeded Whole Wheat Banana Bread
- Banana Sour Cream Pancakes
Banana Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
Who needs another banana bread recipe when you have this Banana Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting to make with your extra-brown bananas? With a moist and tender cake with a layer of nutty and sweet brown butter frosting on top, this banana cake recipe is all you need!!
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 1 ½ cups (345 g) very ripe bananas (about 4 large bananas), drained and mashed
- 3 cups (376 g) all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon, plus extra for top of the cake
- ½ tsp table salt
- 12 tbsp (170 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (100 g) dark brown sugar
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cup (360 ml) liquid buttermilk, at room temperature
For the brown butter cream cheese frosting:
- 4 tbsp (56 g) unsalted butter, cut into 2 equal pieces
- 8 oz (225 g) full-fat cream cheese
- 2 ½ cups (300 g) confectioners’ sugar
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- Good pinch of table salt
Instructions
- To make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350° F. Butter and flour a 13x9-inch baking pan (or use baking spray, like Pam Baking spray).
- Measure the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a medium bowl; set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a hand mixer in a large bowl), beat the butter at high speed for about 2 minutes, until light and creamy. Add in the sugars and continue beating at high speed for about 2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the eggs and vanilla extract to the bowl, and beat at medium-high speed until just combined.
- Beat in the flour mixture in three additions at medium speed alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix until just combined - do not overbeat! Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and give the mixture one more quick stir. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth out the top with an offset spatula.
- Bake for 30 to 32 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and the center of the cake springs back easily when gently pressed. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Flip the cake out of the pan and allow it to cool completely on the rack.
- To make the brown butter cream cheese frosting: In a light-colored or stainless large saucepan or 10-inch sauté pan, melt the butter over medium heat. When the butter starts to foam, begin swirling it around in the pan. Brown bits will start to gather on the edges of the pan. Keep swirling over the heat until the butter turns dark brown, smells nutty, and brown bits form and gather on the bottom of the pan. (This should take about 2 to 3 minutes total. Pay close attention towards the end - the butter can burn very easily!) Immediately remove the pan from the heat and pour the butter and all of the brown bits into a glass bowl. Allow the butter to cool for about 10 minutes and then refrigerate the butter until it has re-solidified in its new brown butter form.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer, beat the cold brown butter on high speed until creamy and smooth, about 1 minute. Add the room temperature cream cheese and beat again until smooth and combined, about 2 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, and salt to the bowl. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, then gradually increase to high speed and beat for 2 minutes. The frosting should be creamy, soft, and glossy.
- Spread the frosting on top of the cake, making big swoopy swirls as you frost it. Sprinkle the top of the frosting lightly with extra ground cinnamon. Cut into 24 squares to serve.
Notes
banana cake recipe adapted from Baking: From My Kitchen to Yours by Dorie Greenspan
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 24 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 297Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 7gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 53mgSodium: 196mgCarbohydrates: 42gFiber: 1gSugar: 17gProtein: 5g
This calculation is an estimation. For the most accurate calculation, please consult a nutritionist. Smells Like Home Studio, Inc. and Tara Liptak do not provide medical information or advice.
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