This easy banana cake is the best you’ll ever try. It’s incredibly moist with big banana flavor, a hint of cinnamon and topped with a generous layer of cream cheese frosting. Make it in a 9×13 inch pan – this easy recipe always gets rave reviews!

**This post was updated March 30, 2025 with new photos, slightly updated instructions and recipe tips**

If you’ve got a bunch of brown bananas lying around – then I highly recommend you skip the banana bread and make this banana cake instead. You’ll love this cake because it’s incredibly moist and tender. It has a tight cake crumb that’s on the denser side, but is still super soft. It’s loaded with banana flavor, and the brown sugar, vanilla and cinnamon complement the bananas perfectly.

On top, there’s a thick layer of cream cheese frosting. The tanginess pairs perfectly with the comforting banana flavor, and I love that this banana cake isn’t too sweet.

Banana Cake Recipe

This recipe isn’t overly difficult. I’ve included photos and tips below, or feel free to click the link below to get straight to the recipe.

Jump to Recipe

1. Prep. Prepare your pan by greasing and lightly dusting with flour and preheat the oven to 350F (180C).
2. Sour the Milk. Whisk together the milk and lemon juice. This step essentially makes buttermilk – so that you don’t have to go out and buy a carton just for this recipe. Using lemon juice whisked with milk (instead of just milk) makes the cake incredibly soft.
3. Whisk the Dry Ingredients. Flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
4. Cream the Butter and Sugars. The creaming process (beating the butter and sugar until light and fluffy) ensures that the cake isn’t too heavy. Using butter instead of oil adds so much flavor to this recipe.

5. Mix in the Eggs and Vanilla. Mix the eggs into the butter mixture 1 at a time to avoid over mixing.
6. Beat the Bananas into the Butter Mixture. Make sure to cut any bruises out of the bananas before mashing. If there are some lumps from the bananas in the batter, that is OK.

7. Mix the Dry Ingredients and Milk into the Butter Mixture. Alternate between additions. Mix in about 1/3 of the dry ingredients, followed by half of the milk. Then another 1/3 of the dry ingredients, followed by the rest of the milk. Lastly, mix in the last 1/3 of the dry ingredients.

8. Bake. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake in the middle of the preheated oven for about 45-50 minutes. The top should be golden, it should be starting to pull away from the sides of the pan and an inserted toothpick should come out clean or with a few crumbs. If you aren’t sure, I’d bake for a few extra minutes as this cake is very unlikely to dry out.

After it’s baked and cooled, the banana cake is topped with a thick layer of tangy, cream cheese frosting. It’s not overly sweet and pairs perfectly with the bananas. The butter and cream cheese should be slightly softened before making the frosting, but still slightly firm to the touch. I recommend sifting the powdered sugar to avoid lumps.

Tips for Making this Banana Cake

• Use brown, spotty bananas for the most flavor and to ensure your cake is deliciously moist. Yellow bananas won’t cut it.
• The butter, eggs & milk should be room temperature before getting started. This ensures everything mixes together evenly without over mixing.
• Be careful not to add too much flour, or else the cake will be dry and crumbly. Before measuring the flour give it a whisk, then carefully spoon it into a dry measuring cup and level off the top.
• Don’t over mix the batter. Otherwise it can get tough.
• Use full-fat, brick-style cream cheese for the frosting so that it’s thick & creamy.

For more banana recipes – try these other favorites:

• Banana Bread Muffins
• Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
• Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting