Brown Butter Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

This banana cake takes the best parts of banana bread and transforms them into a light, tender cake. Soft and moist, it’s packed with banana flavor and finished with a rich brown butter cream cheese frosting. Every bite combines banana, browned butter, and tangy cream cheese for a truly satisfying dessert.

Keys to the banana cake:

A few simple techniques make this cake flavorful yet airy.

• The bananas: Use very ripe bananas—lots of brown speckles are ideal. As bananas ripen, starch converts to sugar, yielding sweeter, softer fruit that adds natural sweetness and moisture to the cake.
• Buttermilk: Buttermilk’s acidity helps tenderize the cake by softening gluten. It contributes to a moist, tender crumb and is a common secret in many great cakes.
• Buttermilk substitute: If you don’t have buttermilk, stir 1 tablespoon lemon juice into a cup of milk minus 1 tablespoon (to make 1 cup total). Let sit 5 minutes to thicken—an effective substitute.

The brown butter cream cheese icing:

• Brown butter: Browning the butter before making the frosting adds a nutty, caramel-like depth that elevates the cream cheese icing. It’s a small step with a big payoff.
• Full details for the icing are included below in the recipe section.

Tips for the Best Banana Cake

Follow these tips to ensure a moist, flavorful cake every time.

1. Ripe bananas: Choose overripe bananas with brown spots—they mash easily and add natural sweetness and moisture.
2. Lemon juice: A splash of lemon juice added to the mashed bananas prevents excessive browning and adds a touch of acidity to balance sweetness.
3. Creaming butter and sugar: Beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy (3–5 minutes). This incorporates air and helps create a light, tender crumb.
4. Alternate dry and wet ingredients: When adding flour and buttermilk, alternate between them, starting and ending with dry ingredients to avoid overmixing while achieving an even texture.
5. Cool browned butter before using: Let the browned butter solidify again before mixing into the frosting—chilling briefly in the freezer speeds this up.
6. Optional freezing for extra moisture: For an especially moist result, cool the baked cake briefly in the freezer right after removing it from the oven, then finish cooling and frost as directed.

FAQs

Ingredient Notes

1. Butter: Use butter in both the cake and frosting for richer flavor. Unsalted butter allows better control of salt.
2. All-purpose flour: Use sifted or accurately weighed all-purpose flour for consistent results.
3. Buttermilk: If you don’t have cultured buttermilk, mix 1 tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar into 1 1/2 cups milk and let sit 5 minutes. Fresh buttermilk is preferred when available.
4. Cream cheese: Soften cream cheese before making the frosting to ensure a smooth, lump-free texture.
5. Powdered sugar: Sift powdered sugar before adding to the frosting to prevent lumps and create a silky finish.

Banana Cake with Brown Butter Cream Cheese Icing

Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Cooling 1 hour hour

Total Time 2 hours hours 20 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups mashed bananas
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 cups white sugar
• ¾ cup butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon almond extract
• 1 ½ cups buttermilk
• 1 batch brown butter cream cheese icing

Browned Butter Cream Cheese Icing

• 1 stick stick browned butter 113 grams
• 1 stick cream cheese (8 oz)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon optional
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups powdered sugar

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 275°F (135°C).
• Mash ripe bananas with the lemon juice and set aside.
• In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
• In a mixer or large bowl, cream the butter and sugar for 3–5 minutes until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, then mix in the vanilla and almond extract.
• On low speed, alternate adding the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the creamed mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Fold in the mashed banana until just combined, then pour the batter into a greased 9×13-inch pan.
• Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 to 1 hour 20 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and cool. For extra moisture, you may transfer the pan to the freezer briefly, then finish cooling before frosting.
• Spread the browned butter cream cheese icing over the cooled cake and serve.

Browned butter cream cheese icing:

• In a small saucepan, melt a stick of butter over medium-high heat.
• Stir frequently and watch closely until the butter turns golden and small brown bits form.
• Remove the browned butter from heat and transfer it to a separate container to cool so it doesn’t burn. Allow it to solidify slightly before using (chill briefly in the freezer to speed this up).
• In a mixer or large bowl, combine the cooled browned butter and softened cream cheese.
• Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
• Add salt, cinnamon (optional), and vanilla, mixing until combined.
• On low speed, add the powdered sugar ½ cup at a time until incorporated.
• Once all sugar is added, whip on medium-high until the frosting is light and fluffy, about 2 minutes more.
• Spread the icing evenly over the cooled cake. This recipe yields a generous amount of frosting—use as much or as little as you like.

Notes

Recipe adapted from Cindy Carnes.