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Jeff’s BEST Banana Cake Recipe is a moist and tender banana cake with a creamy, sweet, and buttery cream cheese frosting. Some say it is the best banana cake in the world and I may just agree.
Best Banana Cake
I take my baking pretty darn seriously. My cakes and cookie recipes have to be top-notch. This banana cake with cream cheese frosting is one of the most crowd-pleasing cake recipes. It is the moistest banana cake I have ever eaten and it almost melts in your mouth!
Let me introduce you to my older brother, Jeff. He can also be called by one his nicknames in high school — “Chef Jeff.”
To know Jeff is to love Jeff. He literally has a heart of gold. Ever since he was in high school, he has been making goodies for his friends. I could write an entire post about all of the little and big things he does to help others but I will keep it short and sweet.
At church, he works with the youth ages 12-18. He thought he would try to bribe them to listen to his church lessons by bringing homemade baked goods every single Sunday. No joke.
He could have just picked up doughnuts from the store, which would make his job extra easy, or ask his wife to help make them; yet, he actually made the homemade goodies for his boys. Unreal.
When we were visiting San Antonio recently he told me that he has a secret recipe. He has been making the best banana cake with cream cheese frosting for years without sharing the recipe with his only sister. How can it be?
Thankfully, he is as nice as he seems and as soon as I asked for it, he gave the recipe to me.
He told me stories about how people would track him down to get this coveted recipe from him.
He said that it is always incredibly popular and told me it is one of his favorite cakes of all time. I wondered if it could really be that good. I decided to make the banana cake recipe as soon as my bananas became perfectly ripe.
Oh, my word. If only there was a camera on me to get my reaction when I took the first bite. This homemade banana cake recipe is downright heavenly.
What I noticed first is how creamy and moist the cake is and how it just melts in your mouth. The cake is so soft and tender and the creamy and buttery cream cheese frosting is smooth as silk. It is really THAT good and then some.
How to make the Best Banana Cake:
- It begins with butter. You know how I feel about butter. Buttery truly makes everything better. It brings so much flavor to this banana cake.
- Ripe Bananas. This is an essential component to phenomenal banana cake or bread. You must use over-ripe bananas with black spots. When you see those black spots on the yellow peel, that is all flavor. It brings so much natural sweetness to the cake. If your bananas aren’t quite ripe enough, place in a brown paper bag and in a dark place.
- Bake at a low temperature. Low and slow wins the race here. Bake at only 275 degrees for about an hour.
- A mix of cream cheese and butter in the frosting. This frosting should be illegal. It has the perfect balance of butter, softened cream cheese, and powdered sugar. I just want to lick the entire bowl.
This best banana cake is made in a 9 x 13 pan. I am such a huge fan of my USA pans. When I lived in Texas, I bought them in all sizes at the Williams Sonoma outlet. Now, Amazon carries them, and are even cheaper than at the outlet. You can buy one
HERE
Another huge key tip to making Jeff’s BEST Banana Cake in the freezer as soon as you pull it out of the oven. It may sound crazy but it helps to keep it moist.
So if you can, clear out a space in your freezer for a 9 x 13 pan and place it in there for one hour. Place oven mitts underneath the pan. Remove it from the freezer and frost it with the ultimate cream cheese frosting.
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Jeff’s BEST Banana Cake Recipe
Ingredients
Banana Cake:
- 3/4 cup Butter softened
- 1 3/4 cup Sugar
- 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
- 3 Eggs
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla
- 3 Ripe Bananas mashed
- 2 teaspoons Fresh Lemon Juice
- 1 1/2 cups Buttermilk
- 3 cups Flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 3/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 1/2 cup Butter softened
- (1) 8-oz. pkg. Cream Cheese softened
- 3 cups Powdered Sugar
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla or Vanilla Beans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 275 degrees.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar for 5 minutes or until light and fluffly.
- Add eggs one at a time, mixing in between. Stir in vanilla.
- In small bowl, mash bananas with lemon juice.
- Add bananas to bowl and mix well. Stir in buttermilk.
- Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Pour into greased 9 x 13 pan.
- Bake for 70-75 minutes or until baked in the middle.
- Place in freezer for 45 minutes – 1 hour to keep moist (put oven mitts underneath pan).
Cream Cheese Frosting:
- Cream butter and cream cheese for 3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and mix together.
- Spread frosting all over cake. Serve cold or at room temperature.
Notes
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is what I know. I will never, ever, ever make another banana cake recipe. This is perfection right here. Thank you, Jeff, for sharing your favorite best banana cake recipe and for being such a good human. I am so lucky to be blessed with 5 incredible brothers.
Happy Baking, my friends!
I made this delicious cake for my husband. He said this was the the most amazing cake he has ever had. ❤️
Elayne this made me so happy. I am so glad that your husband loved the cake so much, and I am so glad that you took the time to comment! Thank you so much!
omg. You’re SO lucky you have 5 brothers. Dang. I have only 1. I wish I have 4 more older brothers! Or maybe 3 more older brothers and 1 younger brother to ad to my 1 older brother. 🙂 Lucky you!!!! I am making your banana cake right now 🙂 It’s in the OVENNNN!!! 😀
FYI 2 hours bake time at 275
Not sure what went wrong but my cake ended up being gooey once cooled although I baked it for 55 minutes at 275 degrees in a convention oven and the toothpick came out clean. I failed to read all of the reviews prior so didn’t see those that suggest much longer baking time. This morning I put it back in the oven to attempt to bake it more – has a totally sunken middle. I’ve already chalked this one up to a miss so I figure I don’t have anything to lose.
I’ve made this banana cake twice .. both times I used 4 bananas loved the flavor & texture..
I baked at 350 ..
took way to long at recommenced time .
It’s my go to recipe.❤️
The Peacock Family
I made this cake and it is a WINNER!!! I changed a couple things and it was fantastic ????!!!!
Do you think I could put chocolate chips in the batter?
Is the oven really only to be set at 275? ????
OOOOOOO THANK YOU JEFF THIS IS THE BEST BANANA CAKE THE BEST FROSTING THE PERFECTION THANKS TO YOU.. I LOVE IT AND EVERYBODY HERE IN MY HOME IN SUNNY SAN DIEGO CA. LOVES ME TO THANKS TO YOUR BANANA RECIPE YOU ARE MY HERO!