Best Banana Cake Ever
Don’t you just love the smell of baking banana cake?
(OK. if you hate bananas, this post is not for you. Stop reading now. If you love bananas, then read on for you will find a recipe so simple you’ll run out right now to buy some to make this cake.)
I do. I love bananas fresh but also when bananas turn overly ripe, as they tend to do in our warm Malaysian weather, don’t throw them out. I know soggy, ripe bananas aren’t the best looking items to cook with but wait a minute and you will know why.
Bake a banana cake with soggy ripe bananas and you will have a luscious, moist, 100 per cent lovingly homemade banana cake par excellence (OK, and I am also running out of bloody superlatives here).
Bananas freeze well so even if you’re not in the mood to bake a cake anytime soon, they can sit in the freezer for sometime.
I have made this banana cake so many times I’ve lost count. And unlike my bread baking adventures which can be counted on the fingers of one hand, this one is a sure winner. Unless you don’t like bananas, in which case I cannot help you.
Marsha, my cyber buddy, asked for this recipe so I gave it to her. She promises to courier to me if it is hard as a rock. I assured her, no, I guaranteed her – this is a no-fail cake.
If I can make it, anyone can. After all, look at me. I am not the best baker around – I tend to go for shortcuts if I can (like cake premixes but after sometime I gave up on those as the cake tastes fake!)
All you need are mashed bananas, beaten egg & self raising flour
OK, for this banana cake you will need:
150 gm sugar
150 gm butter
150 gm self raising flour (with a pinch of sodium bicarbonate)
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup of ripe bananas, mashed
First you cream the butter and sugar. I used to beat them by hand with a wooden spoon for about 15 minutes. Then I got a hand mixer so that made it even quicker.
Creaming butter and sugar
With a hand mixer, you take about 5-8 minutes on a medium speed. Then slowly pour in the egg, bit by bit. You don’t want the whole thing to curdle like taufufah. I usually pour in the egg about 3 times, each time mixing it well into the creamed butter and sugar.
Banana batter done!
Once the eggs are all in, use a metal spoon and fold in half the amount of flour first. Fold lightly. Add in the whole cup of bananas. Then add in the second half of your flour. Don’t overfold.
Pour batter into a greased tray that’s lightly coated with flour. I don’t line my tray with greaseproof paper – too lazy for such dainty stuff.
Bake in a preheated oven at 160 C for 20 minutes (using bottom heat) and after that 10 minutes (using top heat). I know ovens can be strange so your oven may take a little longer or a little less. So the final test lies with your equipment. The test of a done cake is a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake and comes out real smooth and clean, no batter bits stuck.
Tadaaah…banana cake ready in 30 minutes!
Cool, cut and serve.
That’s it! A superbly yummy cake (which can be cut into 24 pieces) and eaten in a jiffy.
Try and do tell me how yours turned out, OK?
What’s left of the banana cake I made last night!
Grrrrrr, its not cooking in the middle but the top is as cooked as it should be. I’ve got the oven down real low and shall leave it for a while longer. Its actually extremely soupy in the middle.
Ok, final update! Left the cake in the oven on low for about another 30 minutes? It is beautiful!!!! So delicious. And soft and fluffy! Not heavy like my other recipe. I will certainly be making this again. Served it up to my partner, Dave, he actually buttered it like bread, and he loved it. So thank you!
Hi Wendy – Am so happy to hear of your successful baking with this recipe. You can double up the portions to make a bigger cake too. As it is only me and Nic in this household, I think this portion is just right. Thank you for trying it out! I do think it is the best banana cake recipe ever. So yummy and the kitchen smells heavenly when the cake is baking.
If anyone has any quick and easy recipes for cakes, please share the links here. We can all learn from each other;-)….. Happy baking!
Hi Maya,
I plan to bake this one soon. But I am puzzled with this steps:
“Bake in a preheated oven at 160 C for 20 minutes (using bottom heat) and after that 10 minutes (using top heat).”
Mind to explain?
Joanne – Ah, it’s due to my little oven. It actually has a top heat and bottom heat element hence the weird instructions. If you’re using a regular oven, just follow your regular settings and temperature. As mine is too tiny, if I don’t watch the heat, it’ll burn the cake.
Sorry for causing the confusion.
Hi Maya, thanks for your quick reply.
Actually I am using small oven too.
Do you mind to take a look on this pic and see whether the heating element that you mentioned is it the button at the middle right side? Thanks! http://www.ezyshop.com.my/Pensonic-Oven-AE-19N/q?pid=484&doit=order
Actually I always confused on which heating element should I set for baking? Upper, lower or Upper and Lower? Mind to give me some advice on that?
And for every baking, I should always put the cake at the middle rack for baking is it?
Back to your recipe.
Erm, I should preheat the oven at 180C for 10 minutes?
Then only follow this instructions; 160 C for 20 minutes (using bottom heat) and after that 10 minutes (using top heat)?
Sorry for all my enquiries. I really need to brush up my skills in using oven. I am freaking out everytime using it. Normally it will burnt my cake!
Hi Joanne: Yup. That’s the button. Mine has bottom heat, top heat and all round heat. Usually the heat should come from the bottom element but in my case, as the oven is too small, that makes the heat come too close to the cake and burn the bottom of the cake (even when I put it on the middle rack). So I “play” around with the heating so that my cake is baked just nice, not burnt on the bottom or top. I also learnt that you can cover your cake tin with aluminium foil if you don’t want to get the top burnt quickly. Yes, I believe the middle rack is the best location. I usually preheat my oven at 180C for 10 minutes. So what I do is, preheat the oven when I am mixing up the batter for the cake. It works for my oven so do try it out. Baking/cooking is a lot of experimentation.
Have fun!
Love you alot Maya.
You really shared alot of great tips and advice with me. Thanks!
I definitely wish to know the way to prevent cake top from burning and you have shared it with me just now. Lovely!
I wondered you mentioned, cover the whole cake tin with aluminium foil? Or only top of the cake tin with foil?
Anyway, after you shared the above mentioned method with me, I google search it and I found another method too. It stated:
“If the top of the cake is cooked but the middle is still uncooked, rip off a square of baking parchment big enough to cover the top of the cake, then scrunch it up in to a ball. Unscrunch the ball and run the parchment under a running tap until the paper is soaking. Now open the oven door and carefully cover the top of the cake with the wet paper – this will stop the top of the cake from burning. ”
What say you about this way?
Hello Maya, sorry, is me again:-)
Guess what, I have baked the cake today! OMG, it turned out nicely.
You really a good tutor in baking.
For me, I did used the method of soaking parchment paper and covered on the cake top.
It worked a little by preventing it to burnt (completely), hehe!
But I guess my oven is really heat up very fast. So I have to always stand near to the oven and check on my cake.
Practice makes perfect, I will continue to work better:-)
P/S: I will post my outcome of the banana cake and the muffin in my blog soon, welcome to see the photos and leave comment.
Will inform you about that soon.
Hi Joanne: Good to hear that! Some ovens heat up quite fast and retain heat well. Mine is OK and I’m so used to it that I am so reluctant to buy a (bigger) oven. Once I get used to something (and plus I know the heating well), I am so lazy to buy a new oven and go through al that testing again! Good that you made the banana cake. I often buy a bunch of bananas but can never properly finish up the entire bunch and I have always been taught not to waste (“think of the dying children in Africa” that’s what my Dad used to drill into us as kids) so I often make cakes with the ripened bananas. The thing is, success builds upon success. Once we are successful in the kitchen with our baking outcomes, we are more confident to try more complicated recipes.
I always start with simple recipes and build up gradually.
Hi Joanne: Just cover the top of the cake with foil. I haven’t tried the new method you suggested. Most of my cakes are OK haha mainly because I am quite used to my oven’s little characteristics. Once you know your oven, you can control how the baking turns out. Let me know which method you are using.
Love to see your reply:-)
Hope you have a good day.
Yea, I considered my oven h eat up very fast. I followed your instruction of using 10 minutes (top heat), but the top of my cake started turned brown very fast within 5 minutes. Therefore, I quickly covered the top with the “soaked parchment paper method”, later turned the temperature setting to “upper and lower” heating. Continue baking for few minutes and is done!
For your opinion, do you think I should turned the “upper and lower” heating from the beginning of the baking (till the end of baking process) as oppose to your instruction?
I think I will be using the “foil paper” method for my next baking because after I used the “soaked parchment paper” for minutes, the paper turned dry very fast, looks like burning very soon..
Oh yes, is always a good value for appreciate and treasure the things that we have. Me and my husband also taught the same value with same eg as yours to my dotter for not wasting food.
Gotto go! Continue blogging and baking too!
Hi Maya, thanks so much for this recipe. This is my 3rd time making this cake & its absolutely delicious! I added a bit of cinnamon-smells & taste heavenly.
Hi Zara: Super super glad to hear that. Hmm, maybe I should try to add some cinnamon too…. thanks for the tip! Please share if you have any easy recipes!
M going to try your recipe for the banana cake for this Chinese New Year since mine is d regular oven (built in) can i use both top n bottom heat cos thats how i bake my cakes??
Hi Maya,
I am thinking of using two 6 inch round tins for your banana cake recipe do u think it will be able to contain the batter cos i have quite alot of baking tins and dont want to buy anymore!!. Aslo why is it that sometimes my butter cake turns out light and moist while other time it is heavy and dry even tho the method is the same n the temp of the oven is the same. Please help its so frustrating!!
Hi Catherine: If you have a regular oven, yes, you can still use the top and bottom heat for the cake. As for the 6 inch cake tins, sure. The cake batter won’t rise a lot so the two tins should be enough. As for the cake turning out light and moist, could it be there ripeness of the bananas and the type of bananas used? Sometimes, very very ripe bananas are quite moist. But if I use bananas taken out from my freezer (I freeze bananas if I don’t manage to eat them up in time), they thaw and get quite wet and messy after they are mashed. So my cake will turn out a little more moist then compared to using fresh, ripe bananas at room temperature. Could it be that you overbeat the cake mixture? Sometimes my cake turns out dense too if I overbeat it. I will also ask my aunt who is a whiz at making cakes.
Hi,
Thks for the quick reply i am about to start baking will let u know!!
Cat
Hi,
Gave the cake to my friend and i manage to get a slice for taste n it turn out
soft n light but mayb its the type of banana i use it was not as aromatic as i thought i should be!! Amyway glad it turn out ok but m curious as to why it was damp to the touch this morning when i open the box to check it ( i cooled it before i put it in the box) could it be becos the cake is too moist??
Cat
Hi Catherine: It could be that the bananas are over-ripe? Sometimes I get very moist cakes too when the bananas are of a different variety or if I have frozen them and then thawed them before use.
Hi Maya : Yet to try your recipe but need to ask you what kind of sugar you use. Can we use granulated sugar?
Hi Jamilah: Yes, you can use granulated sugar.
Maya, this is the best and the easiest- to-remember recipe for banana cake. It was moist and absolutely delicious (although i did cut down the sugar). Thanks for sharing the recipe with all of us.
Hi Coco: Great to hear that! This is one of my classic recipes for banana cakes…I stick to this when in doubt or when I don’t know what else to do with lots of ripe bananas!
Great cake!! Umm… Can I put more bananas into the cake??
Hi Maya, umm… do you have recipies for bread pudding or a delicious butter cake????
Hi Uma – You can. But putting too many bananas might make your cake too moist and in our tropical weather, may make it moldy fast too.
Hi Uma – Check this out: http://mayakirana.com/2012/06/easy-butter-cake-recipes — try the butter cake recipe #2. I made that recently and my husband likes this more than the first one. It’s more fluffy and soft.
Hi! Maya
I wanted to know if you have a good no bake cheesecake recipe.My younger daughter wants me to make one for her.Please get back to me asap as she is after me for this cheesecake!
Hi Shilpa: I don’t have one but my friend has. Take a look at this recipe for a no-bake or chilled cheesecake: http://nyonyapendekmelaka.blogspot.com/2009/08/i-have-been-feeling-kinda-lazy-these.html
Hi Maya: Thanks a lot for giving me this link. Have a good day!