This is hands-down the best banana cake you'll ever try. It's dense, moist, and still light and fluffy. And that creamy hot fudge frosting on top makes it completely unforgettable.
*The post and recipe for Best Banana Cake were first published in February 2012. The photos and post were updated in January 2019 and then republished in August 2022.
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Banana Cake
A friend from college gave me this recipe for ripe bananas years ago. It is truly the best banana cake I have ever eaten!
This banana cake and these double chocolate banana muffins are my favorite recipes for using extra brown bananas.
The cake is fantastic on its own, but I love the frosting. So, I whipped up a batch of hot fudge frosting for the top. Best idea ever!
Why I Love This Recipe
The best banana cake is the perfect dessert for any occasion. It's easy to make, and it comes out perfect every single time.
One bite of this cake and you will be jumping for joy. It is moist, fluffy, and full of banana flavor that will have you coming back for another slice.
A hot fudge frosting is what sets this banana cake recipe apart from all the rest. The delicious chocolate flavor comes from using dark chocolate ice cream topping.
Key Ingredients
This banana cake is so easy to make. You probably already have most of the ingredients in your kitchen.
- Granulated Sugar - Sweetens the cake batter. You can also use a mixture of half granulated and half brown sugar, if you like.
- Shortening - This unique ingredient gives the cake a soft crumb texture. You can use unsalted butter if you prefer, but shortening provides the best texture.
- Eggs - Use large eggs for the best results.
- Vanilla Extract, Salt, & Cinnamon - Added for flavor.
- Baking Soda - Reacts with the buttermilk to provide the rise as the cake bakes.
- Flour - We use all-purpose flour in most of our recipes. See how to measure flour correctly, so your cake turns out correctly every time.
- Buttermilk - Provides a soft texture to the cake crumb and also helps it rise.
- Bananas - Dark, spotted bananas are best for baked goods because they are sweeter.
- Hot Fudge Frosting - Adding a dark chocolate hot fudge topping to a simple buttercream icing gives it a rich chocolate flavor.
How to Make the Best Banana Cake
Not only is this banana cake delicious, but it is also very easy to make. It takes just minutes to put together and requires only one bowl.
Recipe prep. Preheat the oven. Spray a 9x13-inch pan with nonstick baking spray to prevent the cake from sticking. Assemble and measure the ingredients first, as this makes it easier to prepare the cake.
Make banana cake batter. Beat the shortening and sugar in a large bowl until creamy. Add eggs, vanilla, and mashed bananas and mix again. Stir together the dry ingredients. Alternately add the liquid and dry ingredients to the batter.
Bake and cool. Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. A few moist crumbs are ok. Place on a wire rack until it cools completely.
Make hot fudge frosting. Beat softened butter, vanilla, salt, and warm hot fudge topping in a medium bowl until creamy. Slowly add the powdered sugar and heavy cream, beating until light and fluffy.
Decorate and serve. Spread the chocolate frosting evenly over the top of the cooled cake. Add warm hot fudge drizzles and sliced banana to the cake squares right before serving, if desired.
Storage Recommendations
Store the frosted banana cake in an airtight container on the counter for 2-3 days. You can also refrigerate it, and it will keep for 5-7 days. Keeping the cake tightly covered prevents it from drying out.
You can also freeze the unfrosted cake. Wrap the cooled cake tightly in 2 layers of plastic wrap, then in foil. Place in a freezer-safe container and freeze for 2-3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and serve immediately.
BruCrew Tips
- Do not overmix the batter because this can cause the cake to be overly dense or sink in the center.
- Use extra-ripe bananas for the best flavor. If the bananas are not quite ripe, learn how to ripen them in the oven with these easy tips.
- Don't like chocolate? Add cream cheese frosting or marshmallow buttercream to the top.
- Add mini chocolate chips or your favorite chopped nuts to the batter before baking to change up the cake.
FAQs
This particular banana cake should be very moist. One reason your cake may be dry is that you used too much flour or not enough liquid.
Another reason for dried-out cakes is overbaking or an oven that doesn't maintain a consistent temperature.
If your cake doesn't taste very banana-y, it might be because your bananas weren't ripe enough when you baked them. You want to choose very dark bananas for the best and sweetest flavor.
Yes, in fact, the taste continues to improve. It's an easy recipe to make 1-2 days in advance.
More Banana Cakes
- Chocolate Banana Cake
- Banana Coffee Cake
- Banana Zucchini Cake
- Nutella Banana Snack Cake
- Banana Toffee Cake
- Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Cake
- Chocolate Chip Banana Cake
Do you love a recipe you tried from Inside BruCrew Life?
Please leave a 5-star ⭐️ rating and a review in the comments section below.
Recipe
Best Banana Cake Recipe
This is the Best Banana Cake you will ever taste. It has a dense and moist, yet fluffy texture that is perfect. Plus, it is topped with a creamy hot fudge frosting that everyone goes crazy for.
Ingredients
For the Banana Cake
- ½ cup vegetable shortening
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup buttermilk
- 1 ½ cups mashed ripe bananas
For the Hot Fudge Frosting
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon table salt
- ⅓ cup hot fudge topping, slightly warm + 2 Tablespoons for garnish
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- fresh banana slices
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 baking pan with nonstick baking spray.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the shortening and sugar until creamy and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until creamy. Stir in the mashed bananas.
- Stir together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt together and add to the banana mixture alternately with the buttermilk.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared pan and bake for 33-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean. Remove and place on a wire rack until completely cool.
- Beat the softened butter, vanilla, salt, and warm hot fudge until creamy. Slowly add the powdered sugar until it is all incorporated.
- Add the cream and beat until light and fluffy. Spread on the cooled cake. Top with extra hot fudge and banana slices right before serving, if desired.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 24 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 269Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 28mgSodium: 195mgCarbohydrates: 46gFiber: 1gSugar: 34gProtein: 2g
Nutrition facts are an estimate and are not guaranteed to be accurate. If you need special diet advice, please see a registered dietician.
Anita
Can you substitute mayple syrup for the chocolate syrup?
Jocelyn
Do you mean for the top drizzle? You could totally use maple syrup or honey. That sounds amazing! Although, I think I would do cream cheese frosting instead of the hot fudge if you do one of those toppings instead. The chocolate is really just extra...to make it look pretty. It's totally not necessary. But totally delicious 🙂
Donna
Just wondering in the frosting for the hot fudge frosting is the butter melted or softened.
Jocelyn
The butter is just softened to room temperature. I hope you enjoy the cake!!!
Kathy Goehring
We just LoVeD this cake, so much so that we chose not to frost it!!
Cloey
Can I still use coconut oil for the frosting or just use all butter for it. Thanks!
Jocelyn Brubaker
You could do either one. I have actually made this cake and frosting with coconut oil too! Still tastes just as good!!!
Maninder
Pls tell me how to make butter milk
Jocelyn Brubaker
You can make homemade butter milk by using 1 Tablespoon lemon juice to 1 cup of milk. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes, then stir and use.
Ali
Love anything with bananas. Can I substitute butter for the shortening? If so, same ratio?
Jocelyn Brubaker
I have used coconut oil in place of the shortening before and it worked just fine. I think using all butter would work just fine too. Let me know how you like the cake 🙂
Michal
I'm having a hard time finding bananas in my area lol
Shayna
What if you don't have hot fudge? What can you use in place of it?
Jocelyn Brubaker
If you want to just use a plain chocolate frosting, here is a link to a recipe for that. https://insidebrucrewlife.com/nutter-butter-truffle-cupcakes/
Yvonne
I made this today and used Nutella for the hot fudge, yummy yummy yummy
Jocelyn
Woo hoo! I love your Nutella substitution! Sounds awesome!
Sarah
Can you make this as a two layer round cake? And if so, what would you recommend cooking each cake at and for how long? And would you double the frosting to have enough?
Jocelyn Brubaker
I have actually never made this particular cake in anything but the 9x13 pan. You could just bake it in 9x13 and cut in half to do the layer cake. There should be enough frosting to frost it that way without doubling it. You can also check out this banana cake I made as a layer cake. https://insidebrucrewlife.com/chocolate-chip-banana-cake-with-honey-peanut-butter-frosting/
Jillian
Just curious if one can use a hand mixer to make this cake or if a standing mixer is preferred? I don't want to trek over my mom's house if I don't have to, but I also don't want to ruin the cake by using the wrong mixer. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Jocelyn Brubaker
Hi, Jillian. Thank you for stopping by. You can definitely just use the hand mixer. I just always use my stand mixer because it sits on my counter. Either mixer works though. Enjoy the cake...it's one of my all time favorites 🙂
Jillian
Thanks! Can't wait to try it this weekend 🙂
Jesus-in-the-City
This cake was great! I'm normally a health food junkie, so this was actually the first time I've ever bought CRISCO or powdered sugar! But I had a hinkering, some old bananas and wanted to surprise my husband. It was really delicious! I didn't see the healthier recipe for the peanut butter banana cake til after I made this, so it must have been meant to be 🙂
I subbed teff flour for the cake and used coconut milk in the can instead of buttermilk. It's my go to buttermilk sub since I always have it on hand.
It came out DELISH!
Thanks!
Maggie Tate
I've made a similar banana cake since my high school days! At some point, I started putting chocolate chips on the warm cake just after it comes out of the over. They melt, I spread the gooey chocolate. It's delish and makes a semi hard chocolate coating on the cake the next day. I might need to go make one....
Allison
Just saw this on Pinterest...does it have to be made with buttermilk, or would regular milk (or something else) be ok? I'm off work tomorrow because of the polar vortex and I want to make this, but don't have any buttermilk and don't really want to go out in the cold to get some!
Jocelyn Brubaker
I have only made it with buttermilk. If you have regular milk and lemon juice or vinegar though, you can make your own. Measure 1 Tbsp. lemon juice or vinegar to 1 cup of milk. Let it sit 5-10 minutes and then use it in place of buttermilk. I hope you enjoy the cake!!! Stay warm!
Carrie
When you say shortening do you mean vegetable shortening or butter?
Jocelyn Brubaker
I used vegetable shortening in this recipe.
Tammy Northrup
This cake looks amazing. I must confess that I too have an unused juicer in my cabinet.
Averie @ Averie Cooks
Just saw this on the Bhg board. Omg. Repinned. The cake. the FROSTING. I need.
Jocelyn Brubaker
You will love this cake 🙂 Thanks for the repin!
Judy T
Thought your cake looked good....I kind of made it. I cut back on the sugar because my bananas were very, very ripe. Then, I thought I'm not going to do the icing, just too much fat, so I threw a few semi sweet chocolate chips on top and tried to get them to sink in a little. That didn't work and they turned out being scattered over the top. I couldn't serve anything looking that bad so I made the icing but had to use all butter. Everything was excellent. Thank you. The only comment I had was that yours looks really dense but mine came out more like a regular cake. It was good, but did leaving out a few ounces of sugar do that.?
Jocelyn Brubaker
I have made it a few times and it is dense every time. I wonder if leaving out the extra sugar did make it lighter....that would be my only guess. You could always toss the chocolate chips on the top after it comes out of the oven. Let them melt slightly and spread them out. I am glad you liked the recipe though!
Jenna@LittleKitchenBigFlavors
Not really an appliance... but I just dragged out my mortar and pestle for the first time probably since I got it, ha!
Emily @ Sweet Bella Roos
Bananas are so annoying... they are only "perfect" to eat like less than 24 hours, and then I always have the best intentions to bake with them but always forget. So either I end up with rotting bananas on my counter or in my freezer. Maybe I will buy some just to make this cake! 🙂
kayla
Mmm...banana cake!! I haven't had it in forever, and guess what I have some banana's in the freezer just waiting for me to do something with them! Pinning this for later!! Thanks for sharing!!