If you’ve got overripe bananas sitting on your counter, my best ever moist banana cake recipe is the perfect way to use them! Soft, tender, and packed with banana flavor, this cake is a step up from your classic banana bread—and when it’s topped with a rich and tangy cream cheese frosting, it becomes next-level delicious!
Why This Is the Best Banana Cake Recipe
I don’t use the word best lightly when it comes to recipes, but this homemade banana cake recipe truly earns the title. And I’m not the only one who thinks so—everyone who’s tasted it has absolutely loved it! It’s just as delicious on its own as it is with the creamy cream cheese frosting on top. Here’s what makes it so special:
Incredibly Moist and Tender
This banana cake has the perfect texture—soft, tender, and incredibly moist without being heavy. The combination of mashed ripe bananas, Greek yogurt, butter, and oil ensures every bite is rich and full of flavour while staying beautifully light.
Packed with Flavour
A touch of ground cinnamon brings warmth to the naturally sweet bananas, while vanilla and Greek yogurt add depth and balance. The slight tang of the cream cheese frosting on top ties this dessert together perfectly!
Perfectly Balanced Ingredients
A mix of butter and oil gives the best of both worlds: flavour from the butter and moisture from the oil. If you’ve followed my recipes for a while now, you’ll know I love the combo of butter and oil and use it in most of my recipes (including my vanilla cake, red velvet cake and lemon blueberry cake). Cornstarch is also added to the flour in this recipe for a softer, more tender crumb, just like a bakery-style cake.
That Cream Cheese Frosting
Light, smooth, and just tangy enough, the cream cheese frosting is whipped until fluffy, then spread generously over the cooled cake. A splash of lemon juice brings a bright finish that balances the sweetness of the cake so you don’t have a cloyingly sweet cream cheese frosting!
How to Make Banana Cake
You can find the full list of ingredients for this recipe in the recipe card at the end of the blog post (for easy navigation, hit the ‘jump to recipe’ button at the top of the blog post). Here is a quick visual breakdown of the recipe (recipe video is also provided in the recipe card below).
Banana Cake
Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F) conventional and lightly grease a 9×13-inch cake pan. Line the bottom lengthwise with parchment paper—this will make it easier to remove the cake once it’s done.
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, salt and ground cinnamon. Using a whisk, stir until well combined. Set aside.
In another medium bowl, mash the bananas well using a potato masher or fork. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, add in butter, vegetable oil and sugar. Using an electric mixer, cream together for 2 minutes until light and creamy.
Add in eggs one by one, mixing well after each addition (about 10–15 seconds between eggs).
Next add in the mashed bananas, vanilla and Greek yoghurt. Mix on a medium speed until well combined. The mixture may look a little curdled—that’s okay. Set the mixer aside, as the remainder of the batter will be finished by hand.
Finish off by adding in the premixed flour mixture to the wet ingredients, and gently fold in with a spatula until just combined and no streaks of flour remain. Be careful not to overmix.
Pour the cake batter evenly into the prepared pan. Tap the pan lightly on the counter once to remove any large air bubbles, then bake in your preheated oven for 28–30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 20 minutes, before carefully turning it out onto a wire rack to completely cool. Once cooled, carefully invert onto a serving plate (see video for demonstration if unsure how) and frost with cream cheese frosting (recipe below).
Cream Cheese Frosting
Cream butter for a few minutes until light and fluffy. Either use a hand mixer or stand mixer on a medium-high speed. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment.
Add in powdered sugar in two batches while mixing on low. Ensure each batch is fully incorporated before adding the next.
Next add the cold cream cheese, vanilla and fresh lemon juice. Mix just until smooth. Avoid overmixing.
Frost cooled banana cake and serve!
How to Store Banana Cake
Store any leftover unfrosted banana cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. If the cake is frosted with cream cheese frosting, it’s best to keep it in the fridge. Just make sure to bring it to room temperature before serving for the best texture and flavour.
If baking the cake without the frosting, I like to heat my banana cake slice up briefly in the microwave—it honestly tastes soooo good! 🙂
The Best Banana Cake
Print Pin VideoIMPORTANT: For accuracy, I would recommend using the gram measurements provided, as those are the exact quantities I use. Cup measurements are given as estimates (based on US cup measurements) to make it easier for those who do not have a scale.
Ingredients
Banana Sheet Cake
- 2¼ cups (280 g) all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup (25 g) cornstarch
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tsps ground cinnamon
- 3½ large (410 g) bananas - skin removed, make sure they're ripe and soft. About 1¾ cups but I recommend weighing the bananas.
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter - room temperature
- ½ cup (105 g) unflavored vegetable oil - I use canola
- 1½ cups (300 g) white granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs - room temperature
- 1½ tsps vanilla essence/extract
- ½ cup (125 g) Greek yoghurt - room temperature
Cream Cheese Frosting
- ½ cups (112 g) unsalted butter - room temp
- 1¾ cups (215 g) powdered sugar - also known as icing/confectioners' sugar
- ¾ cup (167 g) cream cheese - cold, firm type (see note 1)
- ¾ tsp vanilla extract/essence
- 1 tsp lemon juice - must be fresh
Instructions
Banana Cake
- Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F) conventional (see note 2 if using a convection oven with a fan), and lightly grease a 9x13-inch cake pan. Line the bottom lengthwise with parchment paper—this will make it easier to remove the cake once it’s done.
- In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, salt and ground cinnamon. Using a whisk, mix until well combined. Set aside.
- In another medium bowl, mash the bananas well using a potato masher or fork. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, add in butter, vegetable oil and sugar. Using an electric mixer (hand or stand mixer—see note 3), cream together for 2 minutes until light and creamy.
- Add in eggs one by one, mixing well after each addition (about 10–15 seconds between eggs).
- Next add in the mashed bananas, vanilla and Greek yoghurt. Mix on a medium speed until well combined. The mixture may look a little curdled—that’s okay. Set the mixer aside, as the remainder of the batter will be finished by hand.
- Finish off by adding in the premixed dry ingredients to the wet mixture, and gently fold in with a spatula until just combined and no streaks of flour remain. Be careful not to overmix.
- Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pan. Tap the pan lightly on the counter once to remove any large air bubbles, then bake for 28–30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
- Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 20 minutes, before carefully turning it out onto a wire rack to completely cool. Once cooled, carefully invert onto a serving plate (see video for demonstration if unsure how) and frost with cream cheese frosting (recipe below).
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Cream butter for a few minutes until light and fluffy. Either use a hand or stand mixer on a medium-high speed. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment.
- Add in powdered sugar in two batches while mixing on low. Ensure each batch is fully incorporated before adding the next.
- Next add the cold cream cheese, vanilla and fresh lemon juice. Mix just until smooth. Avoid overmixing (see note 4).
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information are estimates only as they are automatically calculated by a third party application. Actual values may differ based on brands and types of products used.
10 Comments
Thank you so much for another excellent recipe. I only had regular natural yoghurt, not Greek, but the result was still one of the best sheet cakes I’ve ever made. I loved the cream cheese frosting with it too… even though I don’t normally like frosting!
Thank you for this lovely recipe, can I ask, is the weight of the bananas before peeling or after , and also could I use buttermilk instead of Greek yogurt or would that be too thin ?
Thank you
I never review recipes but this one is a keeper. The crumb is light and tender but still moist. The frosting is not too sweet and a little on the scant side , which is perfect for me. Loved it.
Thank you so much Laurel! So glad you loved the banana cake 😀
Best
Thanks so much Candy 😀
Your cakes always look so good. could sour cream be substituted for the greek yogurt. thanks
Thanks Catherine 😀
I haven’t tried that substitute myself, but I think it should work fine! Would love to hear how it goes if you decide to try with the sour cream 🙂
Yummy 😋
Thanks so much Eunice 😀