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banana-cake-with-cream-cheese-frosting

Banana Cream Cake

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Chill & Cool Time: 35 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Servings: 12 servings
Calories: 596kcal
Author: Emily
This moist Banana Cream Cake with Banana Pudding Filling and Homemade Cream Cheese Frosting is not only delicious but quite the showstopper as well. This cake is perfect for your next celebration or dessert craving.
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Equipment

Ingredients

Banana Cake

  • cups all-purpose flour
  • cups sugar
  • teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 3 ripe bananas
  • ¾ cup buttermilk (or ¾ cup milk with ¾ tablespoon vinegar/lemon juice added)
  • ½ cup vegetable shortening (you can sub butter, see notes)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs

Banana Pudding Filling

  • ½ cup banana pudding mix
  • ¾ cup cold milk

Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 1 8 ounces package cream cheese, room temp
  • ½ cup vegetable shortening
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 3-4 cups confectioners powdered sugar

Instructions

Banana Cake

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F and prepare your cake pans with shortening, flour and/or parchment paper.
  • In a large mixing bowl place the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and stir together until well mixed. Add the bananas, buttermilk, shortening and vanilla and mix with a hand mixer on medium speed until everything is combined. Add the eggs and continue to beat for 2 minutes.
  • Pour the cake batter into the cake pans and tap on the counter to remove air bubbles. Place the pan(s) in the oven and bake for 35 minutes. Test the cake with a toothpick at 25 minutes or until the toothpick comes out clean. My pans took 35 minutes to fully cook because they are a deep cake pan.
  • Once done, remove the cake pan from the oven and allow it to cool on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. Remove the cake from the pan and continue cooling on the rack until fully cool.

Banana Pudding

  • While the cake is baking, add the banana pudding mix and cold milk into a bowl and mix with a hand mixer for 2 minutes on medium speed. Place in refrigerator until ready to use. Most instant puddings only take about 5 minutes to set but you want to keep the pudding cold until you are ready to use it.

Cream Cheese Frosting

  • Add the cream cheese and shortening to a mixing bowl and beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the salt and vanilla and beat together for another minute. Add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, until desired sweetness and consistency is achieved. Place the frosting in the refrigerator until ready to frost the cake.

Cake Assembly and Frosting

  • Once the cakes have fully cooled, cut the top off with a serrated knife to create a level top.
  • Place one cake layer on a cake stand or plate. Place about half of the banana pudding in the middle of the cake and spread it out with a spatula leaving about ½ inch around the edge.
  • Add the next cake layer and repeat the pudding layer. Place the last layer on the top, bottom side up, so you have a nice flat top to work with.
  • At this point, you want to frost a crumb coat on the cake. To create a crumb coat, place a thin layer of frosting all over the entire cake and then place it in the freezer for 10 minutes. This will help eliminate crumbs in the final frosting layer.
  • Remove the cake from the freezer and fully frost it with the remaining frosting. You can also pipe on decoration as desired or garnish with fresh banana slices or chopped nuts. Leave the cake in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Notes

  • This frosting needs to be cold in order for the frosting to go on well and I would recommend keeping the cake cold until ready to serve. 
  • I used a 6" cake pan and made 3 layers with the amount of batter that is made with this recipe.
  • If you are going to substitute butter for the shortening in the frosting, make sure it is room temp when mixing with the room temp cream cheese so that they cream together nicely. After achieving the consistency and sweetness you want, place the frosting in the fridge so it has a chance to firm up before frosting the cake.
  • This is a one-bowl recipe! That means you can just add all of the ingredients to one bowl for the cake, how great is that
  • I used my hand mixer for all of the steps, but of course, you can also use your stand mixer, or if you want to burn some calories, use a hand whisk💪🏻.
  • When baking, it's usually best to have your ingredients at room temperature, in this case, the eggs and buttermilk. While I recommend this, you can also just get to it and still have an amazing cake.
  • Cream cheese frosting is one of the best things ever (just sayin') BUT it can be tricky if it's warm outside or in your home. The freezer and fridge are your friends when frosting this cake and storing it.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 596kcal | Carbohydrates: 88g | Protein: 6.5g | Fat: 25.3g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 54mg | Sodium: 406mg | Potassium: 265mg | Fiber: 1.6g | Sugar: 62.5g | Calcium: 90mg | Iron: 2mg