Banana Layer Cake
My banana cake is moist and fluffy and is topped with a rich cinnamon frosting. Drizzle with caramel and top with vanilla wafers for the ultimate treat.
I love making homemade layer cakes for birthdays like my Reese's cake, my Smores cake, my lemon curd cake, and my Cinnamon toast crunch cake. I developed this banana cake recipe for my boyfriend's birthday. It has all his favorites: banana, cinnamon, caramel, and vanilla wafers! It's a great way to use up those bananas on the counter that have seen better days. Love banana? Also try our Banana Bread Cheesecake or our banana pudding cake.
Why This Recipe Works: A Sprinkle of Food Science
- Super Moist: Sour cream adds fat and richness to help this cake stay moist for days.
- Reliable Rise: Baking soda (a base) reacts with sour cream (an acid) immediately while double acting baking powder continues to work in the hot oven.
- Butter AND Oil: Butter provides a rich flavor while the oil stays liquid at room temperature for a moist cake that won't dry out.
Ingredient Notes and Shopping Tips
- Butter: Make sure the butter is softened. Cold butter won't mix smoothly and melted butter could make the cake dense. The butter should be soft enough that your finger leaves an indent when lightly touched.
- Sour Cream: Use full fat sour cream for the best results.
- Eggs: Use room temp. eggs to help everything come together smoothly. Short on time? Place in a glass of warm water for 5-10 minutes. To separate an egg easily, crack the egg into a bowl. Then squeeze an empty plastic bottle over the yolk, and release to suction the yolk up.
- Baking Powder/Baking Soda: Make sure you replace this often even if its not out of date. I write the date I open it on the lid and toss after 6-12 months.
- Bananas: The riper the better. The skins should be very speckled. Get to know you produce guy at the grocery store as mine has ripe bananas for pennies on the dollar once a week.
- No ripe bananas? Roast bananas in the peel in the oven for 20-30 minutes at 300 degrees.
- Flour: Measure flour by spooning it into your measuring cup and leveling with a knife. Don't dip your cup into the flour as you'll likely pack in too much leading to a dry dense cake.
Krystle's Tips: Steal My Culinary School Secrets
- Don't Overmix: Mix until the flour just disappears. Overmixing will lead to a tough, dense cake.
- Even Layers Every time: I stink at eyeballing this, so I weigh by cake pans to ensure each layer is the same size for even baking and quick stacking.
- Bake Flat Cake Layers: I like using bake even strips from Wilton for flat cake layers. You can also just trim with a cake leveler after baking if desired.
- Don't Overbake: Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs. Overbaking leads to a dry cake.
More Decadent Cakes
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📖 Recipe
Banana Layer Cake
Moist and fluffy banana cake topped with rich cinnamon frosting. If you like bananas you'll love this decadent cake!
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Servings: 10 Slices
Calories: 976kcal
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Ingredients
Cake Ingredients
- 1 ½ Cups Sugar
- ¾ Cup Butter Softened
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla extract
- ¾ Cup Sour Cream
- 3 tablespoons Canola Oil
- 3 Eggs
- 1 Egg White
- 2 ½ Cups Flour
- 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1 Cup Mashed Bananas About 3 Large Ripe Bananas
For the Cinnamon Frosting
- 3 Cups Butter Softened
- 6 Cups Powdered Sugar
- 2 tablespoons Ground Cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract
- 3-5 tablespoons Heavy Whipping Cream
- 1 Caramel Syrup & Vanilla Wafers For Garnish
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Instructions
For the Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray (3) 9" cake pans with baking spray and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla, sour cream and canola oil until combined.
- Beat in eggs one at a time until combined.Add the mashed bananas.
- Gradually beat in the dry ingredients a little at a time until combined.
- Divide the batter between the 3 cake pans and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool completely.
For the Cinnamon Frosting
- In a large bowl beat butter, cinnamon, and vanilla until light and fluff. Add in powdered sugar a little at a time. Stir in whipping cream as needed to reach you desired consistency.
- Scoop 1 cup of frosting into a piping bag and set aside.
Building the Cake
- Using a cake leveler, cut the domes off the cake.
- Place 1 cake layer onto plate and scoop about 1 cup of frosting on top. Smooth evenly. Repeat with remaining 2 layers.
- Frost top and sides of cake as well.
- Pour the caramel sauce into the squeeze bottle. Pour caramel sauce in drips over the sides of the cake.
- Pipe remaining dollops of frosting on the top of the cake using a star tip. Garnish with vanilla wafers.
Nutrition
Calories: 976kcal | Carbohydrates: 61g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 79g | Saturated Fat: 47g | Cholesterol: 247mg | Sodium: 820mg | Potassium: 273mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 33g | Vitamin A: 2385IU | Vitamin C: 2.2mg | Calcium: 106mg | Iron: 2mg
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This banana cake is amazing! Such a great recipe.
This banana cake is amazing! Such an amazing recipe.
This banana layer cake is amazing! Such a delicious recipe.
This banana cake is so addictive, even my kids asked me to make it again. So good. I am going to make it for our anniversary.
Such an easy and delicious cake! I love how you did the frosting as well
This is really perfect! My kids loved this cake!
Very yummy! My family and I just loved this banana cake! Such a great and very addicting cake. Beautiful cake!