Easy Banana Cake Recipe
We're happy to share an Easy Banana Cake Recipe with you, and it all starts with a box of cake mix!
This ultra moist, easy banana cake is bursting with wonderful banana flavor, and we've paired it with a dreamy cinnamon cream cheese frosting.
Today's cake, which is based on a yellow cake mix, comes together in no time and it bakes up nice and tall! We made a three layer 8 inch banana cake (plus a cupcake for taste testing). This recipe is sure to bring rave reviews from your family and friends!
Table of Contents
How to Make Easy Banana Cake
Nobody would ever guess that this banana cake starts with a simple yellow cake mix! It has so much flavor from the bananas used in the recipe along with a touch of cinnamon and a splash of vanilla extract.
The extra ingredients added give this banana cake the characteristics of a scratch recipe (like our banana cream cake), and also allow us to increase the amount of batter in one box of cake mix from a two layer cake recipe to a three layer cake. The banana cake layers are soft, super moist, and fluffy.
You can find the full, printable cake recipe further down in this post, but here is a quick rundown of our steps!
- First, preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease and flour three 8 inch round cake pans- I also line mine with parchment paper.
- Combine all ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer and mix on low speed to moisten the ingredients for about 30 seconds. Then increase to medium speed and mix for two minutes. This includes a box of yellow cake mix (sifted), all purpose flour, baking powder, sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, three mashed ripe bananas, cinnamon, milk, and vanilla extract.
- Divide batter between three prepared 8 inch cake pans (I grease, flour, and line my pans with parchment).
- Bake at 350 F for about 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Cool the cake layers in their pans on a wire rack (if you have one) for about 5 minutes before flipping out.
- This recipe makes about 6 ¼ cups batter and it works well for cupcakes also!
Can Cake Layers be Frozen?
Yes! Make your life easier (and your cakes even more moist) by wrapping the freshly baked cake layers while still warm and freezing whenever time allows. This is what we do for any of our cake recipes.
Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
You may have noticed that we LOVE cream cheese frostings and use them often. Today's easy banana cake has one of our favorite cream cheese frostings- a heavenly cinnamon frosting that complements this banana cake mix recipe perfectly, not to mention that it is incredibly simple to make!
This recipe is just a quick combination of softened cream cheese and butter, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. You will have plenty of frosting to be used as both a filling and frosting, plus simple borders.
Softer Consistency
Cream cheese frostings are a softer consistency and so keep in mind that you may need to chill the cake and bowl of frosting as needed to firm things up!
In addition, since cream cheese frostings are perishable, you'll want to refrigerate the finished cake until a couple of hours before serving.
Other Frosting Options There are many frostings that would taste great as a filling or frosting for this easy banana cake, including our Classic Vanilla Buttercream, Caramel Frosting, Peanut Butter Buttercream, and Chocolate Buttercream just to name a few!
Decorating the Cake
I decorated the cake very simply with our cinnamon cream cheese frosting. To assemble, I placed the first cake layer onto the cake pedestal.
Then, I spread with a layer of frosting followed by the next cake layer and so on.
After adding the third cake layer, I frosted the cake with a thin crumb coat of frosting. Then, I froze the cake for about 15 minutes to firm things up.
If you notice that your bowl of cream cheese frosting is a little soft, simply refrigerate during this time for about 10-15 minutes to thicken it.
I then applied the final coat of frosting and smoothed it with a bench scraper while rotating it on my turntable.
I applied a little extra frosting to the top of the cake to swirl my frosting a bit with an offset spatula, and then piped a small bead border and small ball border around the base of the cake using a Wilton Tip 4 as well as a bead border around the top.
That's all there is to it. So delicious!
Favorite Banana Cake Recipes
No matter what the season, banana cake recipes are always a popular choice- and we've made several over the years.
Remember that you can substitute today's easy banana cake recipe for any of our scratch recipes also. A few of our favorites are Banana Pudding Cake, Banana Cream Cake, Banana Split Cake, and Banana Cupcakes. Our scratch Hummingbird Cake and Hummingbird Cake from Cake Mix are classics as well!
We also have a couple of delicious banana pound cakes and bundt cakes to share!
Don't miss our easy Banana Bundt Cake or our scratch Banana Pound Cake. We also have a decadent "boozy" bundt cake recipe for Banana Rum Cake that we just love.
More Cake Mix Recipes
If you love cake mix recipes, we have so many more to share with you! Some of our most popular are our Easy Boston Cream Pie, Marble Cake Mix Recipe, and Strawberry Cake from a Box.
We even have some great classic cakes from cake mix like Easy Carrot Cake from Cake Mix, Easy German Chocolate Cake from Cake Mix, and Easy Italian Cream Bundt Cake!
Thanks so much for stopping by! Don't miss our full collection of cake recipes, which includes hundreds of favorite scratch cake recipes and cake mix recipes!
We also have a huge collection of free cake decorating tutorials for all sorts of special occasions. You'll find cake design ideas for birthdays, baby showers, bridal showers, and more.
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!
Banana Layer Cake (Doctored Cake Mix)
Ingredients
- 1 box Yellow Cake Mix sifted (We used Betty Crocker Super Moist)- I like to sift the mix.
- ½ cup all purpose flour (61g)
- ¾ cup sugar (150g)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder (4g)
- 1 teaspoon 3g cinnamon (3g)
- ½ teaspoon salt (3g)
- 1 ½ teaspoon 6g vanilla extract
- ¾ cup vegetable oil (160g or 5.5 oz)
- 3 eggs
- 3 ripe bananas mashed (approximately 1 ¼ cup or 305g)
- 8 oz milk
For the Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
- 2 sticks (226g) unsalted butter, slightly softened
- 16 oz cream cheese (452g) We used two 8 oz packages of full fat cream cheese.
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (8g)
- ½ teaspoon salt (2g) optional
- 6 to 6 ½ cups powdered sugar (690g to 747g)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon (3g)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and grease and flour three 8 inch cake pans- I line them with parchment paper also.
- Combine all ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer and mix on low speed to moisten the ingredients for about 30 seconds. Then increase to medium speed and mix for two minutes.
- Divide batter between three prepared 8 inch cake pans. Bake at 350 F for about 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.
- This recipe makes about 6 ¼ cups batter. Works for cupcakes also!
Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
- Cut the butter into slices and add to the bowl of your mixer. Beat on low to medium speed until the butter is softened and smooth.
- Cut the cold cream cheese into pieces and add to the butter, beating at low to medium speed until incorporated. If you are using a hand mixer you may need to soften the cream cheese a bit more.
- Add the vanilla. Gradually add the powdered sugar and cinnamon beating on low speed until blended. Cover the bowl with a towel to keep down the cloud of powdered sugar.
- Increase mixing speed and beat until fluffy. Don't over beat or it will become too soft. If it becomes too soft, just refrigerate a short while to firm it up a bit.
- This frosting will pipe best if used while still chilled. You can make it in advance, refrigerate and when ready to use let it soften slightly (do not microwave) and remix.
Hello, wondering if anyone can help with the baking time adjustment if I wanted to do this as a single layer cake in a 13x9 pan? thanks in advance
Hi April- I would use the directions on the back of the box as a guide for when to start checking, but the additional ingredients in this recipe will likely bump up the time 5-10 minutes or so. Maybe start checking after about 25 minutes? When you can lightly touch the center and it springs back (or a toothpick can be inserted and removed, and comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached), it is ready.
https://www.mycakeschool.com/banana-layer-cake-doctored-cake-mix/
thank you much! will update how it comes out. Merry Christmas!
I made this for my boss's birthday and got RAVE reviews. I filled the layers with pudding and sliced bananas, then frosted it with chocolate buttercream.
I'm planning to make it in cupcake form with pudding filling and a whipped frosting, any idea on how long to bake the cupcakes?
Hi Kayshe, I'm so happy to hear it! The combination sounds great. The cupcake version should take about 17 minutes. (You can peek in as the time approaches).
I bet that you would like our Banana Pudding Cupcakes too ;0) - https://www.mycakeschool.com/banana-pudding-cupcakes-cake-mix-recipe
I made this cake for Valentine's day for my honey and I. I have to say it rates as one of my most favorite cakes I've ever baked. It was so moist and delicious. It was exactly what I was looking for. I only made it as a two layer cake because I didn't have an extra cake pan but it was still the best!
Yay! Norma, I'm so glad to hear it. Thanks so much for your feedback ;0)
I was looking for something different and happened to have some bananas so I made this tonight. My son and I liked it very much. In fact, he asked me to save the recipe to make again and take it to an event we have coming up. I will say I didn't use the frosting. I made a frosting from a large box of vanilla pudding, 1/2 c. of powdered sugar, and 2 cups of milk. Mixed together then added a tub of thawed cool whip. It was the perfect light compliment. I didn't have cream cheese but had found this recipe and had the pudding. It might be fun to make a strawberry pudding frosting on the banana cake as well. I made mine as a sheet cake so I wasn't worried about the frosting holding up a layer. This banana cake is a real keeper!!!!