This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my privacy policy.
Light, moist, and fluffy, this banana cake recipe is so delicious that you'll want to make it from scratch every time! Its soft texture and rich banana flavor are so satisfying, perfect with your morning coffee or as a dessert after a hearty meal.
The Best Banana Cake Recipe Ever
Who doesn’t love bananas? They are sweet, healthy, delicious, and almost always available at any grocery store. But bananas tend to ripen quickly, sometimes in as little as a day or two.
I’m sure we’ve all been guilty of letting a few bananas go brown and mushy on our counters. But don’t toss them out just yet. Overripe bananas are actually perfect for making this moist and fluffy banana cake recipe!
Looking for a more indulgent yet equally delicious treat? Make my Butter Cake recipe and pair it with a cup of coffee or tea!
Is Banana Cake the Same As Banana Bread
Banana cake and banana bread may look and taste similar, but they are two different pastries.
Banana cake is lighter and fluffier than banana bread which is typically dense and compact. It often contains more sugar and mashed bananas, so it’s a little sweeter and softer than banana bread.
Both are made with ripe bananas, but banana bread is almost always baked in a loaf pan. On the other hand, this moist banana cake recipe is baked in a square cake pan, although you can still use a loaf or round pan.
Lastly, banana bread usually has extra ingredients such as walnuts or chocolate chips. For banana cake, a frosting or glaze is more common (but not required), making it more like a traditional cake.
Banana Cake Ingredients
- Banana – I use overripe bananas with lots of brown spots for maximum flavor and moisture. It adds body and natural sweetness to the cake, which I really love! And it’s easier to mash with either a fork or a masher.
- All-purpose flour – essential for the structure of the cake. I use self-rising flour when available, but I almost always use all-purpose flour to keep this recipe simple. You can replace or combine it with cake flour for a softer and bouncier cake.
- Powdered sugar – although the bananas are already sweet, I still add a bit of powdered sugar for a more balanced flavor. It’s easier to dissolve than granulated sugar and you’ll have a slightly thicker batter.
- Baking powder – helps the cake rise during baking to give it a light, airy texture. Don’t forget to add more if using all-purpose or cake flour.
- Eggs – must be warmed to room temperature! It helps bind all the dry ingredients for a smooth batter.
- Butter – use unsalted for better salt control. Aside from adding a rich, buttery flavor, it makes the cake perfectly soft and moist.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients.
Variations
- Chocolatey. Make the perfect banana cake for kids by folding some chocolate chips or chopped chocolate into the batter like my Chocolate Chip Banana Bread. Even better, mix in some warmed Nutella in the batter like what I did in my Nutella Banana Bread.
- Caramel. Drizzle a delicious caramel sauce over the cake for an exciting sweet, buttery flavor in every slice.
- Nutty. Throw in some chopped walnuts or pecans for added texture and nuttiness, similar to my Banana Nut Bread recipe.
- Spices. Add a touch of fall flavors by putting cinnamon or nutmeg to the batter.
- Frosting. Whip some cream cheese or buttercream frosting or even chocolate ganache for a more indulgent treat. You can also use the same frosting I made here in my Carrot Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting!
How To Make Banana Cake At Home
I have tested so many recipes for banana cake, and I can proudly say that this is the best one yet! This easy banana cake recipe is indeed a delicious upgrade from the usual banana bread.
Every bite has the perfect blend of natural sweetness and buttery goodness just from six basic ingredients! I made this banana cake with self-raising flour, but it’s actually just all-purpose flour with baking powder. So it’s not at all complicated to make even for beginners!
Here’s how to make this light and fluffy banana cake recipe at home:
Step 1: Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Grease a square cake pan (8 x 8 in or 9 x 9 in) (20 x 20 cm or 23 x 23 cm), a regular loaf pan, or two mini loaf pans with butter. Line the pan(s) with parchment paper. Mash the overripe bananas in a bowl until fine and set aside.
Step 2: Sift the self-raising flour and baking powder. Set aside.
Step 3: Add the eggs to the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on medium speed (speed 5) for 1 minute and then increase to the highest speed (speed 10) for 2 minutes. The egg should be bubbly and foamy.
Step 4: Add the sugar and beat at the highest speed for 3 minutes. The egg and sugar mixture should be foamy, as pictured below.
Step 5: Add the mashed bananas to the egg mixture. Gently stir 2-3 times with a spatula to combine well.
Step 6: Heat the butter in a microwave for 20-30 seconds or until it melts. Divide the flour into 3 parts. Add half of the butter into the egg mixture, gently fold, and stir 2-3 times with a spatula. Next, add 1/3 of the flour, fold carefully, and stir around a few times until incorporated.
Step 7: Add in the second part of the flour, stirring gently to incorporate. Add the remaining butter, gently stir to mix, and finally add the remaining flour. Make sure the flour is fully dissolved. DO NOT OVERMIX. Make sure the batter retains the air bubbles in the beaten eggs.
Pro tip: Fold the batter correctly by cutting from the center and slowly lifting from the bottom until the ingredients are well incorporated.
Step 8: Pour the batter into the pan. For best results, place the pan on another empty pan before baking. To avoid the top of the cake from becoming too brown, cover the top of the pan with aluminum foil after the cake is set at the top, about 20-25 minutes into baking.
Step 9: Bake the banana for 40-50 minutes, or until the cake tester comes out clean in the center. Remove the cake from the oven. Let it cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before cutting into pieces.
Helpful Tips For Home Bakers
- Use overripe bananas for the sweetest flavors! They will also make the cake extra moist and soft because the starches in the fruit already turned into sugars and water.
- Use room-temperature eggs for a better rise and texture. If you have refrigerated eggs, soak them in warm water until they become room temperature.
- Sift the flour with baking powder to have fewer lumps in the batter. It ensures a smooth, even rise while baking, which results in a perfectly light and fluffy cake.
- Measure the flour correctly by spooning and leveling it with the back of a knife. Too much flour will make the cake dense, dry, and crumbly.
- Do not over-stir the cake batter. You want to keep the bubbles in the batter so the cake is soft, airy, and light.
- Stack up two pans when baking to make sure that the cake is evenly cooked. It prevents the bottom and sides of the cake from crusting, making it extra moist and delicious.
Frequently Asked Questions
Use a round or rectangular pan (8 x 8 in or 9 x 9 in), but you can always use a regular loaf pan or two mini loaf pans.
Sinking is usually caused by underbaking the cake and inaccurate oven temperatures (usually lower than the set temperature). It can also be due to under or over-mixing the batter, which creates too little or too much air that affects the structure of the cake.
Your banana cake may be crumbly because of overbaking or using too much flour. Make sure to check for doneness during the last few minutes of baking. For the flour, measure it properly by spooning and leveling it with the back of a knife.
Yes, absolutely. Store the cake overnight by tightly wrapping it with aluminum foil or plastic wrap. This cake recipe doesn’t dry out even if you keep it in the refrigerator. Reheat in a toaster oven or microwave before serving.
This fluffy banana cake recipe has only 334 calories per serving, and it serves 6 people.
What To Serve With This Recipe
A slice of light banana cake is great with coffee or tea. For afternoon tea, I recommend the following recipes:
I hope you enjoy this post as much as I do. If you try my recipe, please leave a comment and consider giving it a 5-star rating. For more easy and delicious recipes, explore my Recipe Index, and stay updated by subscribing to my newsletter and following me on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram for new updates.
Other Recipes You Might Like
Banana Cake (The Best Recipe!)
Ingredients
- 200 g (7 oz) overripe bananas
- 120 g (4 oz) self-raising flour, cake flour or all-purpose flour (see Notes)
- 3/4 – 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 100 g (3½ oz) powdered sugar
- 1 stick unsalted butter, melted (I used Challenge brand butter)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Grease a square cake pan (8 x 8 in or 9 x 9 in) (20 x 20 cm or 23 x 23 cm), a regular loaf pan, or two mini loaf pans with butter. Line the pan(s) with parchment paper. Mash the overripe bananas in a bowl until fine and set aside.
- Sift the self-raising flour and baking powder. Set aside.
- Add the eggs to the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on medium speed (speed 5) for 1 minute and then increase to the highest speed (speed 10) for 2 minutes. The egg should be bubbly and foamy.
- Add the sugar and beat at the highest speed for 3 minutes. The egg and sugar mixture should be foamy, as pictured below.
- Add the mashed bananas to the egg mixture. Gently stir 2-3 times with a spatula to combine well.
- Heat the butter in a microwave for 20-30 seconds or until it melts. Divide the flour into 3 parts. Add half of the butter into the egg mixture, gently fold, and stir 2-3 times with a spatula. Next, add 1/3 of the flour, fold carefully, and stir around a few times until incorporated.
- Add in the second part of the flour, stirring gently to incorporate. Add the remaining butter, gently stir to mix, and finally add the remaining flour. Make sure the flour is fully dissolved. DO NOT OVERMIX. Make sure the batter retains the air bubbles in the beaten eggs.
- Pour the batter into the pan. For best results, place the pan on another empty pan before baking. To avoid the top of the cake from becoming too brown, cover the top of the pan with aluminum foil after the cake is set at the top, about 20-25 minutes into baking.
- Bake the banana for 40-50 minutes, or until the cake tester comes out clean in the center. Remove the cake from the oven. Let it cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before cutting into pieces.
Video
Notes
- Follow the metric measurement of the recipe for the most accurate measurement.
- Use overripe bananas for the sweetest flavors! They will also make the cake extra moist and soft.
- Use room-temperature eggs for a better rise and texture. If you have refrigerated eggs, soak them in warm water for 5 minutes or until they are at room temperature.
- Sift the flour with baking powder to have fewer lumps in the batter.
- You may use cake flour or all-purpose flour. Increase the baking powder to 1 teaspoon if you use either.
- Do not over-stir the cake batter. You want to keep the bubbles in the batter so the cake is soft, airy, and light.
- Stack up two pans when baking to make sure that the cake is evenly cooked. It prevents the bottom and sides of the cake from crusting.
- If you use mini loaf pans, bake for about 30-40 minutes.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I would like to try this but can you please convert the sugar and flour measurements into cups and or tablespoons. thanks. also for your other recipes since most of us had measuring cupsinstead of weighing scale. Good day and stay blessed!
Hi Annabelle, sorry I can’t. Baking should be done using scale. Please try to get a scale. Converting to cup is not precise at all and recipe might fail.
Thank you for this delicious recipe, simple but worth eating, my boss son he love it so much. THANK YOU RASA MALAYSIA. ☺️ ❤️
Awesome Ria, I am so glad you love the recipe.
Sorry to ask this.. I tried this recipe few times but still can’t get the texture like yours… just to reconfirm is the 200gm with skins or without? May be I put too much bananas.
Without skin. Please watch the video – the link is inside the recipe card.
What if you only have all pourpose flour?
You can use it and use 1/2 teaspoon baking powder.
I watched the video (after finding a translator) and he uses powdered sugar. Won’t granulated or brown be to heavy for this technique? Or did it make no difference?
It is fine. You can use powdered sugar. I have used powdered sugar, granulated sugar and brown sugar with no problems.
I Have baked professionally a very long time and had never seen a cake like this. Thank you for including the video, it was really helpful. I can’t wait to try this version out!
Hi Lorie, this Banana Cake recipe is perfect 10. You have to try it out!
What does “double pan” mean please?
Stacking two pans together to bake.
Thank you! I’ve never heard of doing this. Wow!
This recipe and technique is absolutely amazing!
Hi,
Stacking 2 pans means one on top of the other and batter only on the top pan ? How does this help in the baking? Just trying to understand and see if I can use this technique in other cakes eg butter cakes.
Thanks
Butter the pan you have the cake batter in. Do not butter the other pan. Yes stack together. You can try with butter cake.
I will make the banana cake tomorrow for sure
Awesome let me know how it goes.
I am in England and this is how I make my Banana Cake it has been my trusted method for the last three years so it is lovely to see someone else enjoys it too. I add milk chocolate drops into it sometimes and occasionally caramel flavouring for a change.
Hi Alexandra, I grew up in Malaysia and this is the kind of banana cake I enjoyed back home. When I came to USA, I was shocked to taste American Banana Bread, which really is pale in comparison (by a mile) to what I was used to. I am so glad I found this banana cake recipe and I will never go back to making another banana bread again.
Can you put walnuts in the mixture. That will make it a banana walnut cake. Yes?
Maria
I don’t think walnut will add another thing to this perfect banana cake. Try it, it’s the holy grail of banana cake.
I’m thinking of making this, and seeing if it’d be good with roasted or canned pumpkin instead of bananas. I love the simplicity of the recipe. However, your recipe calls for either cake flour or self-rising flour. If self-rising flour has baking powder/soda mixed with all-purpose flour, won’t that make the cake heavier? Thank you!
Hi David, make this with cake flour. I added self raising flour as an option, but both cake flour and self raising flour deliver amazing results. So so so good and moist. The cake stay moist over night, it’s really amazing!
Really taste good….I add cinnamon powder really great aroma….
Thanks for trying my banana cake recipe. Yes, it’s so good!