Moist Banana Cake with Caramel
Print Pin VideoThis 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!
IMPORTANT: 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
Note 1. In this recipe I use an oven with the fan function turned on. The fan forced function cooks cakes/cupcakes faster, so if your oven doesn't have a fan option, then you will need to increase the baking temperature to 175°C (347°F) so that the cake/cupcake bakes at the same rate as mine 🙂
Note 2. If using a stand mixer, then use the paddle attachment for the initial mixing, but continue to do the last step by hand as stated in the recipe.
Note 3. By gently folding in the ingredients, it prevents too much gluten from forming, thus giving us a softer cake. Only mix until the strands of flour have disappeared and the batter is uniform.
Note 4. If you mix the sugar and water while it's heating up, this can cause the sugar to clump up and you won't be able to achieve a nice smooth caramel.
Note 5. If your caramel becomes clumpy, then let it sit over a low heat and gently stir and it should come back together. If there are still a few clumps then strain the caramel and discard the clumps.
Note 6. You can use cake flour in replacement of the all purpose flour and cornstarch in this recipe (305g total required).
Nutrition
Calories: 491kcal | Carbohydrates: 68g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 0.5g | Cholesterol: 79mg | Sodium: 255mg | Potassium: 206mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 42g | Vitamin A: 480IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 43mg | Iron: 2mg
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.
Tried this recipe?I love hearing from you! Tag me @cakesbymk.nz on instagram so I can see your amazing creations :)