Caramel Banana Cake

Name: Caramel Banana Cake
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 115 min
Ingredients: 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, slightly softened (not room temperature) ((170g)); 2 cups white sugar ((400g)); 3 large eggs, room temperature ((place in a bowl of warm water for five minutes if you are in a hurry)); 3 cups cake flour (see Note below if you do not have cake flour) ((342g)); 1 Tablespoon baking powder ((12g)); 1/2 teaspoon baking soda ((3g)); 1/2 teaspoon 3g salt ((3g)); 1 1/2 cups buttermilk ( see Note below for buttermilk substitute) ((363g)); 2 teaspoons vanilla extract ((8g)); 1 1/3 cups mashed ripened bananas (approximately 3 medium bananas) ((300g)); 2 sticks unsalted butter; 2½ cups dark brown sugar; ¾ cup Whipping Cream; ¾ teaspoon salt (adjust to your liking); 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract; 2 tablespoons light corn syrup ((This prevents graininess)); 4 cups powdered sugar ((Used for the frosting))

This scratch Caramel Banana Cake has the perfect combination of flavors. Moist banana cake layers are layered with caramel frosting and a homemade caramel glaze.

Banana Caramel Cake, sliced, on a cake pedestal.

Table of Contents

Why we Love It

There are many reasons to love this recipe! Here are just a few:

Great for all sorts of special occasions. Keep this in mind for a birthday cake recipe, potluck dessert, holiday cake, and more!
Fantastic banana flavor, just as with our banana pudding cake, banana split cake, and banana cream cake.
Cake layers can be baked well in advance and frozen.
The perfect flavor combination (but one that you don't see every day)!

How to Make Caramel Banana Cake

You can find the full, printable cake recipe at the bottom of this post. Here is a quick look at our steps!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour three 8 inch cake pans. We also like to line the bottoms of the pans with circles of parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk these dry ingredients: cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt for 30 seconds, set aside.
In another bowl, add these wet ingredients: buttermilk, vanilla extract and mashed bananas. Blend and set aside.

Photo grid of wet ingredients, mashed bananas, and dry ingredients.

In the bowl of your mixer, add the slightly softened butter and mix at medium speed until smooth.
Gradually add the white sugar and continue to mix on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes until lightened in color and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each until the yellow of the yolk disappears.

Photo grid of creaming butter and sugar and adding eggs.

With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients (3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of liquid.) Mix just until well blended- be careful not to over-mix.
Pour batter into prepared pans and bake at 350 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes. Cake is done with a toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.
Cool in pan for 5-10 minutes on a cooling rack before turning out.

Two photos- one of the banana cake batter in a bowl, the other in the three cake pans.

Caramel Frosting and Caramel Glaze

The caramel flavor for this Caramel Banana Cake comes from the homemade caramel frosting and glaze.

Since our caramel frosting (as used for our caramel cupcakes recipe) contains homemade caramel sauce/glaze, we made enough to be used in the frosting as well as for drizzling in between layers and on top.

The caramel sauce or glaze is a combination of dark brown sugar, unsalted butter, heavy cream, salt, a bit of light corn syrup, and vanilla extract- heated in a saucepan. Combine and bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer 6 minutes.

Now for the important part: After 15 minutes of cooling, scoop a cup of the caramel into a bowl for later. It will thicken more as it cools to a good consistency for drizzling. This is our caramel glaze. The remaining caramel will be used in the frosting.

The caramel frosting is a combination of caramel glaze and powdered sugar. See our recipe card for full instructions!

Assembling the Cake

In assembling the Caramel Banana Cake, we placed the first banana cake layer on the pedestal. Next, we spread it with frosting, then drizzled with the cooled caramel glaze. (Keep the glaze away from the edge.)

Top with the next cake layer and repeat. Top the last cake layer and fill in any remaining gaps between layers with frosting. Apply a thin coat of frosting around the sides and on top of the cake. At this point we like to chill the cake to firm things up before applying the second coat. (15 minutes in the freezer or longer in the refrigerator).

Decorating the Cake

Next, apply the second coat of caramel frosting. For a smooth finish, glide over the frosted cake with a metal bench scraper or spatula that has been heated in hot water.

Finally, apply a caramel drip around the top edge of the chilled, frosted cake using the cooled caramel in a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away. Apply more to the top of the cake as well.

Photos of Decorating the Banana Caramel Cake.

I added a little border of rosettes and shells using a star tip 21-- If you do this, make sure the caramel has set up and is no longer traveling down the cake ;0)

We love how this recipe came out! Banana and caramel is a combo that we don't often think about but they are PERFECT together. We hope that you enjoy the recipe!

Caramel Banana Cake, sliced, on a pedestal.

Recipe FAQs

This cake can sit at room temperature under a cake dome or in an airtight container for 1-2 days. After that, we like to move it to the refrigerator to extend the freshness.

Yes! Just as with the majority of our cake recipes from our carrot cake recipe to strawberry cake recipe, orange cake and more, these layers freeze perfectly!

After baking, cool the layers until slightly warm or room temperature. (We prefer slightly warm.) Then, wrap each layer individually in plastic wrap followed by foil. If you have cardboard cake circles, you can use these for added support. Freeze for up to three months!

To thaw, move the wrapped cake layers to the kitchen counter. After about 30 minutes, unwrap and allow to continue thawing to desired amount for decorating. Some cake decorators prefer to assemble their cakes when the layers are still partially frozen as they are less fragile.

Cake flour has a lower protein content than all purpose flour. This lessens the development of gluten in the cake batter, which results in a softer and more tender cake!

Many of our favorite cake recipes contain cake flour, including white velvet cake, vanilla buttermilk cake, yellow cake, and more!

More Banana Cakes

If you love banana cakes, we have a few more for you to add to your list!

Some of our favorites are Banana Pudding Cake, Easy Banana Pudding Cupcakes, Banana Cream Cake, and Banana Split Cake. We also have a great Easy Banana Cake as well (which is based on a cake mix).

Check out our full roundup of favorites of our best banana cake recipes! We also have a great roundup of favorite caramel cakes!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! We hope you'll take a minute to check out our full collection of hundreds of cake recipes and free cake decorating tutorials!

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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!