There is just something fantastic about good banana cake. So much so, I’m reposting this classic recipe from two years ago just because I love it! You may be wondering why I refer to mine as cake and not bread? That’s because boring, brown bread would not do this suh-weet bake justice! We’re talking super moist texture with a slightly-crisped outer crust, and we won’t even need butter or jam to top this off. It is divine all by its lonesome.
I have been making this since I was a in middle school, and my recipe is pretty classic. I never add nuts—just simply bananas . . . and lots of them! I could eat a piece for dessert, breakfast—heck I’m not too proud—even lunch (well, it does have a serving of fruit). I’ve baked this goodness many times as a bundt, in muffin tins, and as a layer cake with a whipped, cream cheese frosting—the options are endless! Today, I’m going with a traditional loaf pan. The following recipe is for a single batch, but I’m doubling-up since I have a boat-load of ripe bananas to use.
- 1.5 cups mashed bananas (very ripe, about 4 small bananas)
- 2 sticks unsalted butter
- 1 cup baker's sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1.75 cups flour
- ½ tsp salt
- ⅔ tsp baking soda
- ⅛ tsp grd. cinnamon
- 5 T buttermilk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- Preheat oven to 350
- Soften butter ahead of time
- Mix flour, soda, salt & cinnamon in a separate bowl
- In bowl of electric mixer, cream butter & sugar, adding eggs one at a time
- Add mashed bananas
- Add buttermilk & vanilla, mix 1 minute
- Pour batter into loaf pan
- Bake for 40-45 minutes, untill toothpick comes out clean & middle is firm (will be dark brown)
- Cool 10 min in pan, then remove & cool 1 hour on rack (don't prematurely handle, needs to set!)
- Slice and enjoy!
- Store leftovers in air-tight container.
I wish I could relay the sweet smell of this cake baking in my oven—it is heavenly! The riper the bananas the better (want them to have blackened peels), so hold onto an extra bunch of Chiquitas this week and by Sunday, you’ll be having your cake and eating it too (but not for long because this one goes fast). I hope you enjoy this favorite cake as much as I do.While it’s baking I shall leave you with some random banana bits of info to chew on:
- Musa sapientum is the scientific name for bananas, ‘fruit of the wise men.’
- Bananas have been traced all of the way back to the 6th century B.C.
- Miss Chiquita Banana began appearing on labels in 1963.
- Bananas (in addition to apples & watermelons) float when in water
- The average American eats 27 pounds of bananas each year
- A man in India once ate 81 bananas in ½ hour (I don’t recommend this).
- Bananas do not actually grow on trees; they’re technically grown from a giant herb plant.
- Bananas uniquely contain the 6 major vitamin groups, and rich in vitamin B6
- By peeling a banana bottom-up, you won’t have to deal with the pesky ‘strings’
- Those sticky strings under peels are actually called phloem (pronounced FLOM).
- An individual banana is referred to as a finger, and a bunch is hand.
Any suggestions on how to make this dairy free? Use shortening instead of butter? Or “I Can’t Believe Its Not Butter”? And a replacement for the buttermilk? Looks good but dairy is a no go for me!
Hi Liz! Good question! I’ve been planning to do a post specifically on the Science and substitutions of baking, but haven’t yet! I have on occasionally done dairy free cookies and cakes, but the results are never exactly the same. For this cake because it is a bit denser then a say a white cake, a substitution is easier. I would never recommend using margarine as a substitute; there is not enough of a solid fat to work with. You need butter because it is a solid fat that you cream the sugars with. That is crucial because it gives the texture and ‘fluff’ to the cake or bread. You could use shortening (I like the canola version), but typically that is a better sub for cookies, because they don’t rise as much. One thing you can do to mimic the creaming of the butter is separate your egg yolks from the whites. First, “cream” the yolks since they have fat with the sugar, then adding the whites with the other ingreds. I still think you should replace equal amounts of shortening for the butter still. For the buttermilk, skip it! I would sub with ~4 Tablespoons of applesauce instead. I have used applesauce for oil and some liquid fats several times before, not as rich, but worked! Curious to see how this turns out. Hope you are doing well!
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