This banana cake recipe really takes ‘basic banana cake’ to that next level! The best part is, it really doesn’t take that much more effort – I promise.
Moist banana cake layers, filled with a luscious caramel and topped with cream cheese buttercream, this recipe is sure to please the crowd!
How to make Banana Cake
This banana cake comes together really easily, and uses common household ingredients! The full list of ingredients is in the recipe card at the end of the post 🙂
Preheat oven to 160 °C (320°F) with the fan on (see note 1 on the recipe card below if you don’t have a fan function) and grease and/or line two 8 inch cake tins (I use my homemade cake release).
In a bowl, sift together your flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, salt and ground cinnamon. Using a whisk or fork, mix until well combined. Set aside.
Mash your bananas well using a potato masher or fork. Set aside for now.
In a large bowl, add in your butter, vegetable oil and sugar. Using an electric mixer (hand or stand mixer are both fine – see note 2), cream together for 2 minutes until light and creamy.
Add in eggs one by one, mixing well in between each addition (about 10-15 seconds between eggs).
Next add in your mashed bananas, vanilla and Greek yoghurt. Mix on a medium speed until well combined. It may look a little curdled but that’s okay. Now set your mixer aside as the remainder of the batter will be finished by hand.
Finish off by adding in your premixed dry ingredients to your wet mixture, and gently fold it in with a spatula until combined and there are no streaks of flour remaining. Be careful not to overmix (see note 3 on recipe card below).
Distribute the batter evenly into the two 8 inch cake tins. Drop the cake tins lightly on your counter to remove any large air bubbles and bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Once baked, allow them to cool in the cake tins for about 15-20 minutes, and then turn them out onto a wire rack to completely cool before filling/topping with the caramel and cream cheese frosting.
How to make Caramel
Caramel is actually really easy to make and only requires a few ingredients!
In a small saucepan, add in the sugar and water. Mix so that the sugar is coated in the water and then place the saucepan over a medium heat. Allow the mixture to heat up and start bubbling without mixing (see note 4 on recipe card below).
Once the mixture turns a light amber colour throughout (it can take over 5 minutes for the sugar to start changing colour), turn off the heat. Immediately pour in the cream gradually while vigorously whisking the sugar with a whisk (see note 5 on recipe card below if your mixture clumps up).
Next add in your cold butter and salt, and mix until the butter is completely melted. Transfer your caramel to a heat proof bowl to allow it to cool. I like to cover my caramel with cling wrap so that the cling wrap is touching the caramel to prevent a skin from forming as it cools.
For the cream cheese frosting, check out this blog post: https://cakesbymk.com/recipe/the-best-cream-cheese-frosting/
How to decorate your banana cake
Decorating your cake is the best part (in my opinion!) and you can get creative and do it however you like, but this is how I did mine 🙂
Start off by placing your first cake layer onto your cake stand, and then spread out your caramel on top. If you don’t want your caramel to seep out the sides, then pipe a dam of frosting around the top edges of your cake and then place the caramel in the middle.
Next spread out a generous amount of your cream cheese frosting. Place your next cake layer on top and then cover the top and sides with more cream cheese frosting. I finished off with some piping on the top 🙂
And that is it! Enjoy! 🙂
Moist Banana Cake with Caramel
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 Cake
- 2¼ cups (280 g) flour - regular, all purpose (see note 6 if you want to use cake flour)
- ¼ cup (25 g) cornstarch - also known as cornflour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tsp cinnamon - ground, powdered
- 3½ large (410 g) bananas - skin removed, make sure they're ripe and soft
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter - room temperature
- ½ cup (105 g) unflavoured 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
Caramel
- ½ cup (100 g) white granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp water
- ¼ cup (60 g) cream - room temperature, minimum fat percentage of 34%
- 2 tbsp (28 g) unsalted butter - cold
- 1 pinch salt
Cream Cheese Frosting
Instructions
Banana Cake
- Preheat oven to 160 °C (320°F) with the fan on (see note 1 if you don't have a fan function) and grease and/or line two 8 inch cake tins (I use my homemade cake release).
- In a bowl, sift together your flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, salt and ground cinnamon. Using a whisk or fork, mix until well combined. Set aside.
- Mash your bananas well using a potato masher or fork. Set aside for now.
- In a large bowl, add in your butter, vegetable oil and sugar. Using an electric mixer (hand or stand mixer are both fine - see note 2), cream together for 2 minutes until light and creamy.
- Add in eggs one by one, mixing well in between each addition (about 10-15 seconds between eggs).
- Next add in your mashed bananas, vanilla and Greek yoghurt. Mix on a medium speed until well combined. It may look a little curdled but that's okay. Now set your mixer aside as the remainder of the batter will be finished by hand.
- Finish off by adding in your premixed dry ingredients to your wet mixture, and gently fold it in with a spatula until combined and there are no streaks of flour remaining. Be careful not to overmix (see note 3).
- Distribute the batter evenly into the two 8 inch cake tins. Drop the cake tins lightly on your counter to remove any large air bubbles and bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Once baked, allow them to cool in the cake tins for about 15-20 minutes, and then turn them out onto a wire rack to completely cool before filling/topping with the caramel and cream cheese frosting.
Caramel
- In a small saucepan, add in the sugar and water. Mix so that the sugar is coated in the water and then place the saucepan over a medium heat. Allow the mixture to heat up and start bubbling without mixing (see note 4).
- Once the mixture turns a light amber colour throughout (it can take over 5 minutes for the sugar to start changing colour), turn off the heat. Immediately pour in the cream gradually while vigorously whisking the sugar with a whisk (see note 5 if your mixture clumps up).
- Next add in your cold butter and salt, and mix until the butter is completely melted. Transfer your caramel to a heat proof bowl to allow it to cool. I like to cover my caramel with cling wrap so that the cling wrap is touching the caramel to prevent a skin from forming as it cools.
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.
51 Comments
Hi there,
If I wanted to make this as a 2 6 inch double layer cakes, could I make in 2x 6 inch tins and cut in half lengthways?
Thanks
Abby
Hi Abby! 🙂 If making two 6 inch cake layers, I would recommend halving the recipe otherwise there may be too much batter in each cake tin, which may cause the cake not to rise/bake as intended. If you wanted to have four 6 inch cake layers to stack, then instead of torting two thicker 6 inch layers to make 4, I would recommend making 1x the recipe and distributing it into four 6 inch cake tins instead 🙂
You may need to reduce the cook time also if making 6 inch cake layers.
Hope that all made sense and hope you enjoy the recipe 😀
This cake was the best thank you for sharing. I omitted the cinnamon and I use buttercream. My family loved it. Thank you.
You’re so welcome Carrie! So so happy to hear you loved the banana cake 😀
Incredible banana cake.
I have to say, due to my own mistake, the caramel was unfortunately an epic fail.
But I undercooked it and so I have only myself to blame. Nevertheless the cake was delicious.
Thank you for another great recipe.
So glad you enjoyed the recipe Hina 😀
Ahh yess caramel can be tricky to make sometimes. Hope it works out a bit better next time 🙂
Hi May I know how long can I store this cake?
Hi Thurgasiniy! 🙂 Without frosting, the cake can be kept at room temp in an airtight container for a few days and then should be placed in the fridge for up to a week. With the frosting, it can sit for a day at room temp, after which it will need to be kept in the fridge in an airtight container where it will stay fresh for up to a week. Hope that helps and hope you enjoy the recipe 🙂
Hola! se puede reemplazar el yogurth griego por buttermilk?
Hola! 🙂 I haven’t tried that myself so I’m not 100% sure, but I think it would work okay! Would love to hear how it goes if you decide to try it out 🙂
Can the caramel sauce be made before hand 😊
Hi Gabby! Yes totally 😀 if you find its a little firm when it comes time to using it you can heat it up a little and this should loosen it up a bit 🙂
Hope you enjoy the recipe!
Hi MK, can I use one 9inch round pan instead of 8 inch pans. Thanks.
Hi Melanie! 🙂 There will probably be a bit too much batter for one 9 inch pan and the cake may not rise as intended. It may be best to make half the recipe and reduce the cooking time slightly as the cake layer will be a bit thinner 🙂
This is favourite now – I made it once for family and we all loved it! I want to try your Oreo cake next!! Many thanks for the yummy recipe x
Yay! So happy to hear you all loved it Christina 😀 hope you enjoy the Oreo cake recipe just as much 🙂
This cake is amazing, so moist and delicious. Next time I will double up on the caramel and add it to the top layer as well.
Easy to make, with an easy to follow instructional video, this is one of the yummiest cakes I’ve ever made! 😁
I’m thrilled to hear that Morven! So happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe 😀
Absolutely delicious! I made this for my boyfriend’s birthday and we loved it! The cake itself was full of banana flavour and really soft and moist, the cream cheese and caramel made it even more amazing. We loved the addition of the cinnamon. I will definitely be baking this again and definitely recommend everyone to try it!
Yay! So so happy to hear you both loved the cake Melissa 😀