I’ve had plenty of banana bread in my day. But it always seems like more of a cold weather food. Go figure, a tropical fruit that makes a cold weather bread. Doesn’t make sense, but that’s how it is.
This cake, though, is lighter than any banana bread I’ve ever had. And with the brown sugar buttercream frosting, it’s an amazing summertime treat.
Ingredients
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
2 egg yolks
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
3 crushed bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 egg whites, beaten
Directions
Combine the sugar and butter and beat on low speed until completely combined.
Add the egg yolks and beat on high speed until the mixture is smooth and fluffy. This is the creaming method. (Follow that link so Jenni can tell you all about why the creaming method works for cakes.)
In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients — flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt — and whisk thoroughly. You’ll want the baking soda to be well distributed throughout the flour before adding to the wet ingredients.
Alternate adding dry and wet ingredients (milk), beating each time until it is just incorporated. Start and end with dry. (If you really care why, Jenni explains all.)
When you’re done, you should have a nice, soft, fluffy batter.
Now mash the bananas and add them to the batter.
Add the vanilla and beat until combined.
Whip the egg whites until they form stiff peaks, but not so much you dry them out.
Carefully fold the egg whites into the batter, trying not to deflate them too much.
Pour the batter into three greased and floured round pans.
Bake at 350° for 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry.
Pop the cakes out of the pans and let them cool to room temperature, then frost with the brown sugar buttercream frosting.
This frosting will stay soft and creamy at room temperature. If you want it to firm up, you’ll need to put the cake in the refrigerator.
And that’s it.
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72 Comments
Manda, it doesn’t have to be, but if you use the frosting I mention it will probably stay very soft. As for the cake itself, as with anything home-made it’s not going to have any preservatives in it, so don’t expect it to last as long as something store-bought would.
Gezelle, that’s true, but in this recipe the beaten egg whites also add volume. It can be the difference between cake and a typical banana bread consistency. Not that there’s anything wrong with banana bread, but cake is supposed to be lighter.
I don’t bake, but I’m in love with this recipe. I’m hoping to have a local baker make it for my husband’s birthday party.
Hey sis you can make it to try for your husband,or else your husband will be suprise so if you don’t know how to bake you can try it for the one you love is that right or wrong I hope is right ok, my english is broken because Im an i kiribati so I hope you understand what I say . bye that all from my advice or my support to you
Kate, what kind of frosting will you ask for? The poll is showing the brown sugar buttercream ahead 3-to-2, but cream cheese is probably more common in bakeries.
I am an i kiribati but I want to know how to cook the banana cake and I am a girl and Im only 17 years old thank you and may god be with you always . bye see you kk bye
What did you put in between the cake layers? Or was it just a thin layer of the icing? Hmmm…..
Yes, just a thin layer of the icing.
This cake sounds great, would it work for cupcakes?
No reason it shouldn’t. Give it a shot, and send me a picture of the finished product.
I just happened to “stumbleupon” your site. I love it! I can’t wait to try this banana cake!
Thank you!
So I finally made this cake, and I must say it was the best thing I’ve ever made and ever tasted. I’ll definitely be making this again!
I just made this cake today and it was great! Thanks Drew!
I made it with brown sugar swiss meringue buttercream (my own recipe) as I’ve never been fond of icing with flour in them, and I love how making a sugar syrup results in a glossy fluffy icing that you just can’t get otherwsise.
I also made it a double layer rather than triple layer cake as I didn’t have the time to cook 3 cakes ( I sadly, only have one round pan.)
I have some frozen maple swiss meringue butter cream left over from an angel food cake I made last month, so I’m going to try this again using the maple icing. I think it will be great!
The cake I made for the party went over so well, so I made another one the next day for my family.
I put maple syrup swiss meringue buttercream between the two layers and coated it with chocolate swiss meringue buttercream.
SO GOOD!
This recipe is a keeper.
I took the plunge and made this recipe, and I made them as cupcakes. The only issue I had was trying to man-handle my bowl from my stand mixer to be able to pour the batter (which is fairly thick) into the cupcake tins. They all ended up being full to the top so when they were done cooking, they looked like the enormous muffins that you can find at Starbucks. Didn’t bother me, and they tasted great! I didn’t even end up putting frosting on them. I can’t wait to make it again as a cake with the frosting as well.
Just a comment from the tropics: If you use really ripe bananas (yes, with the darkened skin), your cake will turn up a lot tastier (I mean a lot more banana taste). They don’t look good to eat fresh as they become brownish, but the difference is amazing. We learned this as we have some trees at home and we often end up with too many “very ripe” bananas, so we make breads, cakes, desserts, etc. with them, and the end result is always sweeter, with a stronger banana flavour when these are used. Enjoy!
Experiment including some blended bananas in a thick “cream anglaise” (while being cooked) and use it as a filling. Works great with your buttercream frosting!
Very nice cake!
Enrique, you’re so right about using “over ripe” bananas. They’re my usual preference. The ones in the picture there, I bought nearly a week before I did this recipe and they didn’t turn as quickly as I had hoped.
Hi Drew! If you wish to try out some unique flavours, try making a Guava and “over ripe” banana Jam/jelly. If Guavas are not available fresh, you could begin with a commercially made Guava (“Guayaba”) Jelly/Jam, (They can be found at “latin” sections of supermarkets or specialty stores in the US), slowly melt it and incorporate blended bananas. cook as you would normally do with other fruits when making a fresh jelly (“mermelada”). You could add as much or as little bananas as you wish. (adjust sugar to taste).
This yields a distinctive, flavorful, aromatic Jelly that can be used over ice cream, as a Cheescake topping… or just for breakfast over toast.
Hope you all like it.
I’ve got to start trying more ethnic foods. But where I live they think Taco Bell is ethnic.
Hi Drew,
Just wondering: you used AP instead of cake flour, is there any particular reason? I know the egg whites will help keep the cake light but I’m wondering since cake flour is so fine if it will make it extra fluffy. I think I might do half cake flour half AP. I’m making this tonight for a very picky bunch tomorrow so I’m hoping it’ll turn out as yummy as it looks. If you can email me back soon so I can get your thoughts, thanks and happy baking!
Mary, I don’t keep cake flour, because I don’t bake often enough to give up the pantry space. I’m sure this would work well either way.
I love this cake, my grandma always made it with peanut butter icing
I made this cake for my family and they loved it! thanks alot!
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