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Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Last Updated On: October 22, 2023 | Published: August 30, 2014 by Melissa Diamond | 56 Comments
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Today we are sharing a moist and flavorful homemade Banana Cake recipe with Cream Cheese Frosting that is truly the BEST!

Moist homemade banana cake layers are filled with butter pecan cream cheese filling and frosted with cream cheese frosting.

We love this dessert so much that we've used the recipe for banana cake layers in many of our favorite banana cakes, including Banana Pudding Cake, Banana Cream Cake, and Banana Split Cake.

Even better, we've paired it with a heavenly butter pecan cream cheese filling.

If you love banana cake recipes, make sure to put this one on your list!

Why we Love It

There are so many reasons to love this banana cake with cream cheese frosting!

  • Moist, tender Banana Cake Layers with lots of banana flavor!
  • The butter pecan cream cheese filling
  • It is so versatile as it tastes great with all sorts of fillings and frostings!
  • Perfect as a birthday cake recipe, recipe for entertaining, for potlucks, or just because!

Butter Pecan Cream Cheese Filling

This flavorful filling is perfect with the banana cake layers! We find it best to go ahead and make the buttered pecans first, so that they have plenty of time to cool before combining with our filling of cream cheese frosting.

*Imagine that these pecans are chopped, they should be ;0) - You can chop them later or start with them chopped from the beginning.

Buttered Pecans
  • Melt 3 tablespoons butter.
  • When melted, add 2 cups chopped pecans and toss into butter to coat.
  • Spread on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 6-8 minutes, stirring several times. Set aside for later.

How to Make Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

You can find the full, printable cake recipe further down in this post. Here is a quick rundown of our steps!

  • First, preheat the oven to 350 degrees, Grease and flour three 8 inch pans and line with parchment circles (or pan preparation of choice).
  • In the mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients: sugar, flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, & salt. Turn on the mixer and blend for 30 seconds to incorporate ingredients
  • Next, add the softened butter to the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl.
  • In a separate bowl, slice and mash the bananas, add lemon juice, eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla and buttermilk. Lightly mix these ingredients with a fork to blend.
  • Slowly add the banana/buttermilk mixture to the dry ingredients beating on medium speed for 1 minute, scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl and beat another minute.
  • Pour batter into the prepared pans and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until the cake springs back to the touch and a toothpick comes out clean.
  • Cool the cakes 10 minutes on the rack and then turn out.

Cream Cheese Frosting

We opted to frost our Banana Cake with luscious cream cheese frosting. We find that everything tastes better with a good slathering of cream cheese frosting.

Mixing bowl of cream cheese frosting

We've used variations of this delicious cream cheese frostings for all sorts of cakes, from pumpkin spice cake to pineapple cake , Italian Cream Cake, and more.

This frosting is a simple combination of softened butter, confectioners sugar, and a pinch of salt, and vanilla extract. It is very versatile and can easily be changed up with spices or other flavorings and extracts.

Assembling the Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

  • Place the first cooled banana cake layer on the pedestal. Spread with a layer of cream cheese frosting and sprinkle with about â…“ of the chopped, buttered pecans (or your desired amount.)
  • Top with the next cake layer, and sprinkle with more chopped butter pecans, reserving some for the top.
  • Top with the third banana cake layer. Fill in any gaps between the cake layers with frosting, and then frost a thin crumb coat of frosting over the top and around the sides of the cake.
  • At this point, I like to chill the cake in the freezer for 15 minutes (or longer in the refrigerator) to firm everything up before applying the final coat of frosting.
  • Frost the cake with the remaining frosting and top with remaining butter pecans.
Delicious and Moist Banana Cake with Butter Pecan Cream Cheese Filling! MyCakeSchool.com Online Cake Tutorials, Videos, Recipes, and more!

Recipe FAQs

In addition to our butter pecan cream cheese frosting, we have a few more fillings and and frostings that you may like to try! There are so many flavors that taste great with banana!

Chocolate Buttercream  

Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting.  

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

This banana cake only needs to be refrigerated because of the butter pecan cream cheese filling and cream cheese frosting.

However, for best flavor and texture, remove from the refrigerator a couple of hours before serving. This will give the cake time to warm and soften.

Yes! Just as with most of our cakes, (from almond cake to carrot cake, Italian Cream Cake and more), the banana cake layers can be frozen for up to three months when wrapped properly.

Simply wrap each cake layer individually (when room temperature or slightly warm) in plastic wrap, followed by aluminum foil.

To thaw, move the cake layers to the kitchen counter and leave wrapped for 30-45 minutes, as condensation collects on the wrapping.

Then, unwrap and thaw to desired amount for cake assembly. (Some bakers like to work with partially frozen layers as they are less fragile.)

Many of our favorite cakes call for buttermilk (including buttermilk pound cake, vanilla buttermilk cake, lemon buttermilk cake, and more!)

Buttermilk adds a boost of acidity to the cake batter which softens and breaks down strands of gluten and protein. This results in a more tender cake!

Many of our cakes call for cake flour, which has a lower protein content. This results in less gluten formation, which makes for a softer cake.

A few favorite cakes that call for cake flour are homemade white cake, whipping cream pound cake, strawberry cake, and more!

More Banana Cakes

We have more banana cakes for you to try! We have mentioned some already at the top of this post, but we also love our Hummingbird Cake, Banana Chocolate Chip Cake, Easy Banana Cake from cake mix, and more!

We also have a great recipe for banana pudding cupcakes that are so cute and easy!

Have you made this? We would LOVE for you to leave a ⭐️ rating as well as a comment and photo below! We really appreciate your feedback!

Delicious Banana Cake with Butter Pecan Cream Cheese Filling! Recipe by MyCakeSchool.com. Online cake tutorials, recipes, videos, and more!

Banana Cake with Butter Pecan Cream Cheese Filling

BY Melissa and Bebe
This super moist and flavorful homemade banana cake is sure to be a crowd pleaser!
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Course: Dessert
Servings: 15 servings
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Equipment

Ingredients

Buttered Pecans for Filling

  • 2 cups chopped pecans (190g)
  • 3 tablespoons butter, melted (14g)

For the Banana Cake

  • 2 cups granulated sugar (400g)
  • 3 cups cake flour (342g)
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon (3g)
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder (12g)
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda (3g)
  • ½ teaspoon salt (3g)
  • 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (170g)
  • 1 1 /2 cup mashed bananas about 3 bananas
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (8g)
  • 3 large eggs, room temperature (If in a hurry, place eggs in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes.)
  • 1 ½ cups buttermilk (363g)

For the Cream Cheese Frosting (also used for butter pecan filling)

  • 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened (226g)
  • 16 oz cream cheese We use two 8 oz packages cream cheese, full fat.
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (8g)
  • ½ teaspoon salt 2g optional - it will cut the sweetness, popcorn salt is best to use because it is fine and dissolves faster
  • 6 to 6 ½ cups powdered sugar (690g-747g)

Instructions

For the Buttered Pecans

  • Melt 3 tablespoons butter. When melted, add 2 cups chopped pecans and toss into butter to coat. Spread on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 6-8 minutes, stirring several times. Set aside for later.

For the Banana Cake (makes 8 cups batter)

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, Grease/spray & flour three 8 inch pans and line with parchment circles (or your prep method of choice).
  • In the mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients, sugar, flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, & salt. Turn on the mixer and blend for 30 seconds to incorporate ingredients
  • Add the softened butter to the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl
  • In a separate bowl, slice and mash the bananas, add lemon juice, eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla and buttermilk. Lightly mix these ingredients with a fork to blend
  • Slowly add the banana/buttermilk mixture to the dry ingredients beating on medium speed for 1 minute, scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl and beat another minute.
  • Pour batter into the prepared pans and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until the cake springs back to the touch and a toothpick comes out clean.
  • Cool the cakes 10 minutes on the rack and then turn out.

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

  • In the bowl of your mixer, blend the butter and cream cheese until just combined. Add vanilla, with mixer on low speed gradually add the powdered sugar. Mix until smooth and combined.
  • Recipe makes 4 to 4 ½ cups
  • This recipe was inspired by the "Banana Cake IV" recipe on Allrecipes.com

To Assemble the Cake

  • Place the first banana cake layer on the pedestal. Spread with a layer of cream cheese frosting and sprinkle with about â…“ of the butter pecans (or your desired amount.)
  • Top with the next cake layer, and sprinkle with more butter pecans, reserving some for the top.
  • Top with the third banana cake layer. Fill in any gaps between the cake layers with frosting, and then frost a thin crumb coat of frosting over the top and around the sides of the cake.
  • At this point, I like to chill the cake in the freezer for 15 minutes (or longer in the refrigerator) to firm everything up before applying the final coat of frosting.
  • Frost the cake with the remaining frosting an top with remaining butter pecans.

Notes

Substitute for Buttermilk: No Buttermilk? Here is a substitution: Add 1 Tablespoon plus one teaspoon vinegar or lemon juice to a measuring cup. Add milk to the 1 ¼ c. mark, stir. Wait 5 minutes and it is ready to use.
 
Substitution for Cake Flour: Using all purpose flour (plain in UK) to make Cake Flour: For each cup of flour in a recipe, remove 2 Tablespoons of flour and replace with 2 Tablespoons cornstarch (cornflour in the UK). This recipe has 3 cups of flour so you will measure out 3 cups of all purpose flour, remove 6 Tablespoons and replace with 6 Tablespoons cornstarch, whisk to blend

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56 Comments

  1. Hi Taylor, You can use 9 inch pans, the layers won't be quite at tall but the cake will look fine. Bake at the same temperature but the time will be shorter because of less batter in the pans, keep an eye on them. Hope you will enjoy the cake
    .

    Reply

  2. What is buttercream? Its the same that heavy cream?, can you give names of some brands? I live in mexico, and í want to know and understand what kind of product í have to buy, here can be diference.
    Thanks

    Reply

  3. Hi Gardenka, buttercream is a type of frosting. We have lots of buttercream frosting recipes in our Recipes section (usually a combination of butter, milk, vanilla, powdered sugar, and flavorings.) -

    Reply

  5. Hi Marlene, Yes, the layers can be frozen for 2 to 3 months. Wrap in plastic wrap and aluminum foil to keep them airtight and they will be fine. When ready to use, keep wrapped until condensation forms on the aluminum foil then unwrap for them to continue to thaw.

    Reply

  6. This cake is sooo good! So moist and flavorful. Your cream cheese icing is the same way I make mine. Absolutely delicious!

    Reply

  8. Melissa, You posted a recipe for the Banana Cake with Butter Pecan Cream Cheese Filling a short time ago. I baked the cake using this recipe and froze the cake. I did not taste it. Now I have to use this cake that I froze in a couple of days, and you posted another recipe. The first recipe called for 3 cups of all purpose flour, this most recent recipe calls for 3 cups of cake flour. Also the first recipe does not have us using baking powder. Baking powder is in this new recipe. I just wish I had tasted the first recipe. Is the first one good or is it bad. Please advise ASAP.

    Thank you,
    Marlene (marlenemoore38@gmail.com)

    Reply

  9. Hi Marlene- I had to think for a second about whether we had changed it-- When we made our recent banana pudding cake, we updated this one as well to match that one...but the flavor of the two cakes (our original banana recipe & this one) are very similar. You will love the cake just as you made it-- we've gotten great feedback on that recipe over the years. I'm sorry for the confusion! I usually make a note when we make updates but I must have forgotten. Anyway, no need to redo- it's a great recipe also.

    Reply

  11. Hi! I plan on making this cake because it looks delicious, however I cannot get ahold of buttermilk. What would you recommend as a substitute? Thank you in advance!

    Reply

  12. Hi Chrysoula, If you do not have buttermilk, you can make this substitute. To 1 cup of milk add 1 Tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice. Stir and let sit for 2 minutes.

    This recipes calls for 1 1/2 cups buttermilk so you will add 1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon vinegar to the 1 1/2 cups milk. Hope you will enjoy the recipe.

    Reply