This banana cake is amazing! It is moist, flavorful, and covered with a thick layer of homemade cream cheese icing! This classic recipe is melt in your mouth delicious and sure to be a hit with everyone who tries it!

banana cake on a white plate with cream cheese icing and sliced banana on top with a bite taken out

There are 3 bananas past their prime sitting in your fruit basket…

What do you do with them?

You could make them into banana nut muffins, you could make some of these banana bran muffins, or some Banana Bread. Those would all be delicious.

But you could also level up those poor brown bananas into an absolutely amazing dessert that your family will devour.

This banana cake is that dessert.

This cake has the moistness of banana bread, it is dense while being fluffy, and it is toped with a thick layer of cream cheese icing that compliments the cake perfectly.

A side view of a piece of banana cake on a white plate with a fork with a bite of cake on it. The cake has sliced banana on top

What gives this banana cake it’s amazing texture?

The key to the texture of this banana cake is the lemon juice/milk combination. If you are a seasoned baker you’ll know that often buttermilk is added to baked goods to create an amazing texture. The acidity makes the baking soda react (think science fair volcano with baking soda and vinegar!) to create an amazing texture in this cake.

For this recipe, I went with lemon juice and milk mixed, mostly because I don’t keep buttermilk in my house and most people have milk and lemon juice on hand most of the time. But if you are someone who keeps buttermilk in the house you can omit the lemon juice and just swap out buttermilk for regular milk.

Additionally, this recipe has a lot of butter instead of oil. Obviously this isn’t a low-fat recipe and the butter helps create the delicate texture of this cake. You can use oil instead of butter but the texture will be different. If you go for a low fat swap like applesauce there will likely be an even bigger difference, taste wise it would be ok, but the texture of this cake is one of the things that makes it amazing!

An entire banana cake with cream cheese frosting in a glass rectangle pan. There is a bunch of bananas in the corner and a red and white linen

Here’s what you’ll need to make this Banana Cake

For the cake-

3- Very Ripe Bananas

1- Tbsp Lemon Juice

1 1/2 – Cup Milk

3- Cups Flour

1 tsp. Baking Powder

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1 Cup Sugar

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

3 Eggs

1 tsp. Vanilla

3/4 Cup Butter (softened)

For the Icing-

8 oz Cream Cheese (softened)

1/2 Cup Butter (softened)

3 Cups Powdered Sugar

1 tsp. Vanilla

Pinch of Salt

Preheat your oven to 350 and grease and flour a 13×9 inch pan.

Now in a small bowl or glass mix together your milk and lemon juice, set aside.

In another bowl thoroughly mash your bananas , set aside.

With an electric mixer cream your butter and sugars together until well mixed.

Add in your eggs one at a time mixing thoroughly after each addition.

In a medium size bowl combine your flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add your bananas to the butter, sugar, and eggs and mix.

Now add in your flour mixture alternating with the milk and lemon juice mix until everything is thoroughly mixed, making sure to scrape down the sides.

Pour your batter into the prepared baking pan and place in the oven. Bake for 45-55 minutes or until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick comes out of the center clean.

Once the cake is baked allow it to cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting-

With an electric mixer combine the cream cheese and butter, add in the vanilla, and a pinch of salt and mix thoroughly.

Add in your powdered sugar a little at a time mixing in between each addition until all the sugar has been added.

Once the cake is cooled spread the icing evenly across the top.

You can garnish the top with fresh banana right before serving if desired!