Moist Banana Cake (Printable)
Light, fluffy banana cake with ripe flavor, bakes in 35 minutes. Optional nuts or cream cheese topping.
# What You Need:
→ Wet Ingredients
01 - 3 large ripe bananas, mashed
02 - ½ cup buttermilk (or ½ cup whole milk mixed with 1 teaspoon lemon juice)
03 - ½ cup vegetable oil
04 - ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
05 - 1 cup granulated sugar
06 - 2 large eggs
07 - 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
→ Dry Ingredients
08 - 2 cups all-purpose flour
09 - 1 teaspoon baking powder
10 - 1 teaspoon baking soda
11 - ¼ teaspoon salt
→ Optional Topping
12 - ⅔ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
13 - Cream cheese frosting
# Directions:
01 - Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and line a 9-inch round or square cake pan with parchment paper.
02 - In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened butter and granulated sugar together using an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
03 - Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the mashed bananas, buttermilk, vegetable oil, and vanilla extract until thoroughly combined.
04 - In a separate bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt until evenly distributed.
05 - Gradually add the dry ingredient mixture to the wet ingredients, folding gently with a spatula until just combined. Be careful not to overmix.
06 - Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Sprinkle chopped nuts evenly over the surface if desired.
07 - Bake on the center rack for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
08 - Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then carefully invert onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
09 - Once the cake has cooled completely, spread cream cheese frosting evenly over the top if desired. Slice and serve.
# Expert Suggestions:
01 -
- The crumb stays impossibly tender for days thanks to buttermilk and oil working together in the batter.
- It comes together with one bowl and a whisk, no fancy equipment required.
- Those sad brown bananas on your counter finally have a purpose worth getting excited about.
02 -
- Overmixing the batter once the flour goes in will make the cake dense and tough instead of soft and pillowy.
- Underripe bananas will taste flat and starchy, so wait until the peels are heavily spotted or fully brown.
03 -
- Weigh your flour instead of scooping it with the cup, because packed flour can add up to 25 percent too much and dry out the entire cake.
- Let the cake cool completely before frosting, as even slightly warm cake will melt cream cheese frosting into a messy puddle.