The Banana Cake

A true classic! Banana cake with luscious cream cheese frosting is the definition of comfort food. This cake is so soft and flavourful, you can easily top it with different frostings, such as chocolate or caramel to make it your best banana cake.

Banana cakes are one of my all time favourite cakes 😁. Having a favourite cake flavour is always difficult to decide. I can go as far as saying that if I had to pick between a variety of cakes like vanilla, chocolate, red velvet etc I would most likely reach for a luscious, silky smooth, moist and fluffy banana cake. Especially if it’s slathered with cream cheese frosting!

I love this banana cake so much! It’s super easy to make and the results are fantastic. I’ve actually made this cake several times before but had never shared it on my site so I wanted to make sure that this classic layered version had it’s own spot on my blog.

This cake uses the standard creaming method for ultra fluffy-ness. I love dense banana breads and cakes especially when they’re moist and soft but I also wanted to have a cakey and fluffy version which is tricky since we are working with banana. Having said that, I’m soo happy with the results of this cake 😃

Breakdown of this cake

• Creamed butter and sugar. Although oil will help with giving banana cakes a lighter crumb, I feel that butter is irreplaceable in terms of flavour and texture. Creaming the butter with sugar will aerate the batter and make the cake fluffier.
• Brown sugar. The cake calls for a mix of brown and white sugar but the brown sugar is super important for a melt-in-your-mouth soft crumb. It also enhances the flavour with a delicious caramel undertone which pairs beautifully with banana.
• Oil. As I mentioned above, butter is imperative for the cake’s texture but we also use oil to make sure that the cake is moist and light.
• Whole eggs. I like using whole eggs because we need the egg whites to help in making the cake fluffy. The yolks play a role in keeping the cake tender as well as binding everything together.
• Vanilla. The addition of vanilla is vital in this cake. I use a good 1 tablespoon because I absolutely love the flavour combination with the banana.
• Mixture of buttermilk and sour cream. The two of these used together makes the ultimate cake. Buttermilk gives the most wonderful flavour and delectable crumb. The sour cream is very important to keep the cake moist.

The crumb of this banana cake is super soft, stick-to-your-fork-moist, wonderfully fluffy and bursting with banana flavour. Every time I make this recipe, I am surprised at just how delicious it is.

Cream cheese frosting

It’s well known that the common frosting to pair with banana cake, and fruit or spice cake, is cream cheese. This is because the tang from the cream cheese is so good with the cake flavour. The creamy and light texture is also so luscious that it melds so well with these kind of cakes.

I used my favourite, super simple cream cheese frosting recipe. It’s just butter, cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla. I have a neat trick that I use to make the frosting sturdy without having to refrigerate: soft butter, cold cream cheese. I learned this technique from Emma’s Goodies and have been using it ever since. It truly is the best way to make cream cheese frosting.

Tips for this cake

To get this dreamy taste and texture in this cake, there are a few things that need to be mentioned:

• First and most importantly the bananas must be over ripe to the point where they’re so soft and spotted. This is where the true delicious banana flavour comes from and the texture is smoother.
• Soft brown sugar. I love love LOVE brown sugar and I try and incorporate that into pretty much everything I make. The flavour it brings is just undeniable and I can’t imagine having any fruit or spice cake without it.
• Buttermilk and sour cream. A mix of both because I love the extra moisture and texture that they give and the added boost of flavour they add, especially the buttermilk. If you don’t have or don’t want to use buttermilk then regular milk is fine (see notes below on the amount) but don’t leave out the sour cream, it’s suuppper important for this crumb 👇

Everything else is pretty much straightforward. Feel free to add any spice into the cake such as cinnamon. You can also play around with the fillings and frosting. Chocolate, caramel or toffee would be great. Nuts, walnuts or pecans, are also a wonderful addition to a banana cake. Make sure to toss them into the dry mix before folding into the batter to ensure they spread evenly.

Once you’ve baked and frosted the cake, keep it stored in an airtight container. Banana cakes are incredibly better after they have had time to set. I usually make them the night before because the cake flavour and texture is so much better the next day.

I hope you guys enjoy this cake and remember to tag me @dutchbakerblog on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter 😊