(Best Ever) Easy Banana Cake Recipe
If you’ve got brown bananas sitting on your counter, this Easy Banana Cake recipe is your new best friend. It’s quick, simple, and packed with amazing banana flavor.

Why This is the Best Ever Banana Cake Recipe
I am all about not wasting food. Groceries are SO expensive these days and I feel guilty when it spoils before we get a chance to eat it.
Bananas are hard to regulate in my house. One week everyone loves them, and we blow through whole the bunch right away. Other weeks, no one is interested and they turn brown sitting in our bowl. The good news is that the more ripe bananas get, the sweeter they get and the better they are for baking with.
I make my Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips a lot with our brown bananas, but I like to mix it up with this recipe from time to time.
I’m a no-fuss baker. I don’t like a lot of extra steps or ingredients, so this cake recipe is perfect for my attention span. It calls for simple ingredients you probably already have in your pantry. Plus I take a short cut and use store bought frosting.
Ingredients You’ll Need:
- butter
- brown sugar (light or dark brown sugar work)
- white sugar
- eggs
- vanilla extract
- cinnamon
- mashed bananas (2-3 overripe bananas)
- flour
- baking powder
- store-bought vanilla frosting
- course or flakey salt

Instructions:
Remove 2 eggs from fridge and set them on counter to come to start to come to room temperature.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line and 8×8 glass baking dish with parchment paper (for easy removal). Set aside. Tip: Parchment paper can be tricky to get to stay in place. Crumble it up into a ball, and run it under your facet to make it damp. Then flatten it out and it will me much easier to work with.



Melt 1 cup of butter (melting butter the microwave can cause hot spots in your butter, so be sure to give it a good stir once melted. I prefer to melt it in a small sauce pan on the stove over medium heat, but either method will work).
While butter is melting, peal and mash 2-3 overripe bananas.

In a large bowl with a hand mixer, or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the melted butter with 1 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup of granulated sugar on low speed until light and fluffy (1-2 mins).
Add the 2 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla extract and the mashed bananas. Mix on a low speed until all wet ingredients are well combined.
In a separate mixing bowl, combine 2 cups of flour, 1 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon. Note: I use salted butter because that’s what I keep in my house. If using unsalted butter, toss 1/2 teaspoon salt into the dry ingredients bowl as well. Gradually add the flour mixture into the batter. (I add about 1/2 cup at a time to ensure it gets well mixed into batter, mixing in between). Scrape down the sides of the bowl so all dry ingredients are completely mixed into batter.


Pour batter into the prepared pan with the parchment paper. Use spatula to evenly spread batter and smooth the top of the cake. Tip: If using a metal baking dish, you may want to also spray the parchment paper with cooking spray before adding batter to ensure it comes out smoothly. I skip this step when using a glass pan.
Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the center of cake is no longer wobbly, and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Note: baking time can vary in different ovens, so keep a close eye on it and make sure its fully baked through in center before pulling it out so the center of your cake doesn’t sink as it cools.
Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring it to a wire rack. Remove parchment and let cake cool completely.
Once cooled, transfer to a serving platter or cake stand, and spread a generous layer of store-bought vanilla frosting over the top of the cake. I like to leave the sides unfrosted.



Lightly sprinkle coarse or flakey salt over the top of the frosting. This will help enhance the sweetness and create the most intriguing salty/sweet combination with each bite. If you’d like to add a garnish, add thin banana slices or a Nila Wafer cookie to the top of each piece of cake.

Tips for Creating the Best Ever Banana Cake
- Use Ripe Bananas: The riper the bananas, the more intense the banana flavor. Once they are primarily covered in brown spots, and give off stronger scent, they are perfect.
- Don’t Overmix: Overmixing batter can make your cake tough. Mix until just combined.
- Cool Completely: Let the cake cool completely before frosting to prevent the frosting from melting.
Storage & Freezing
Store leftover cake in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or refrigerate for up to a week.
To freeze cake, wrap in a layer of plastic wrap, and then in a second layer of aluminum foil to prevent freezer burn. Ideally you would freeze cake before you frost it and just frost once thawed. But it still works ok to freeze with frosting on.
To thaw frozen cake, transfer from freezer to refrigerator while still wrapped. Let it sit in fridge overnight so that it thaws slowly. Keeping the wrap on will help prevent it from drying out.
Serving Variations
Since I like to keep baking simple at my house, an 8 x 8 square pan works great for me. The fun thing about this recipe is that you can switch up the cake pan, and create a totally new dessert without changing anything from the recipe…
Banana Layer Cake: Separate batter equally into two 8″ round cake pans. I like these with the easy release feature. Once cooled, frost the top of one of them and then stack the other on top. Frost the new top, and the sides of the cake with the vanilla frosting. Since there will be a layer of interior frosting, I recommend going thinner on the top layer of frosting so that the cake doesn’t become too rich. Sprinkle top with salt flakes. Crush up pecans and use a spoon to press them into the sides of the cake to add a fun texture and crunch. Layer two banana slices onto center of cake as garnish, and slice into thin wedges to serve.
Banana Cupcakes: Pour batter into a muffin tin with paper liners to bake individual cupcake versions of banana cake. Once cool, frost each cupcake and decorate with sprinkles, raisins, mini chocolate chips or shredded coconut.
Banana Bars: Use a 9 x 13 size pan for baking. The large pan will make the cake thinner. Frost and cut into small square or rectangle shapes to make bars. Top with flake sea salt.
Get Your Kids Involved!
Baking is a great way to spend quality time with your kids, and this is a simple recipe, so its a good one to let little hands help!
Let them help measure ingredients, mash the bananas and help frost the cake.
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(Best Ever) Easy Banana Cake Recipe
Equipment
- 1 electric or stand mixer
- 1 mixing bowl
- 1 spatula
- 1 icing knife
- parchment paper
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup brown sugar (light or dark brown sugar work)
- ½ cup white sugar
- 1 T vanilla
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 3 bananas overripe
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 can vanilla frosting store bought
- coarse or flaky sea salt
Instructions
- Remove 2 eggs from fridge and set them on counter to come to start to come to room temperature.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line and 8×8 glass baking dish with parchment paper (for easy removal). Set aside. Tip: Parchment paper can be tricky to get to stay in place. Crumble it up into a ball, and run it under your facet to make it damp. Then flatten it out and it will me much easier to work with.
- Melt 1 cup of butter (melting butter the microwave can cause hot spots in your butter, so be sure to give it a good stir once melted. I prefer to melt it in a small sauce pan on the stove over medium heat, but either method will work).
- While butter is melting, peal and mash 2-3 overripe bananas.
- Using a mixer, cream together the melted butter with 1 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup of granulated sugar on low speed until light and fluffy (1-2 mins)
- Add the 2 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla extract and the mashed bananas. Mix on a low speed until all wet ingredients are well combined.
- In a separate mixing bowl, combine 2 cups of flour, 1 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon. Note: I use salted butter because that's what I keep in my house. If using unsalted butter, toss 1/2 teaspoon salt into the dry ingredients bowl as well. Gradually add the flour mixture into the batter. (I add about 1/2 cup at a time to ensure it gets well mixed into batter, mixing in between). Scrape down the sides of the bowl so all dry ingredients are completely mixed into batter.
- Pour batter into the prepared pan with the parchment paper. Use spatula to evenly spread batter and smooth the top of the cake.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until the center of cake is no longer wobbly, and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Note: baking time can vary in different ovens, so keep a close eye on it and make sure its fully baked through in center before pulling it out so the center of your cake doesn't sink as it cools.
- Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring it to a wire rack. Remove parchment and let cake cool completely.
- Once cooled, transfer to a serving platter or cake stand, and spread a generous layer of store-bought vanilla frosting over the top of the cake. I like to leave the sides unfrosted.
- Lightly sprinkle coarse or flakey salt over the top of the frosting. This will help enhance the sweetness and create the most intriguing salty/sweet combination with each bite. Slice into 9 square slices. If you'd like to add a garnish, add thin banana slices or a Nila Wafer cookie to the top of each piece of cake.