Easy & Moist Spiced Banana Cake
This Easy & Moist Spiced Banana Cake is warm, rich, and filled with banana flavor!! An ode to Southern banana desserts, this decadent cake is sure to become an instant classic. It is packed with warm and cozy fall spices and topped with a deliciously sinful brown butter cream cheese rum glaze.
Ingredients
For the Spiced Banana Cake
- 3 (375 g) cups All purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon Baking powder
- 1 teaspoon Baking soda
- 1 ¾ teaspoon Ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon Ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon Ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon Ground allspice
- ⅛ teaspoon Ground clove
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 ½ (341 g) cup Mashed bananas about 3 ½ to 4 bananas depending on their size, remember to measure
- 1 teaspoon Lemon juice
- ¾ (170 g) cup Unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 (220 g) cup Light brown sugar
- ½ (100 g) cup Granulated sugar
- 3 large Eggs room temperature
- 1 tablespoon Vanilla extract
- ¾ (180 g ) cup Buttermilk room temperature
For the Brown Butter Cream Cheese Rum Glaze
- 4 tablespoons Unsalted butter room temperature
- 4 ounces Cream cheese room temperature
- 1 ½ (180 g) cup Powdered sugar sifted
- 2 tablespoons Spiced rum
- 2 tablespoons Half & half can substitute for milk or heavy cream
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla extract
Instructions
For the Spiced Banana Cake
- Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 12 cup bundt pan with non stick baking spray. Using a fine pastry brush, spread the baking spray to coat the pan making sure to get into all the nooks and crannies. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, sift together the all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and spices. Whisk in the kosher salt. Set aside.3 (375 g) cups All purpose flour, 1 ½ teaspoon Baking powder, 1 teaspoon Baking soda, 1 ¾ teaspoon Ground cinnamon, ½ teaspoon Ground ginger, ½ teaspoon Ground nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon Ground allspice, ⅛ teaspoon Ground clove, ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- In a small bowl, mash the bananas with the back of a fork. Be sure to leave some small chunks of banana behind. Stir in lemon juice. Set aside.1 ½ (341 g) cup Mashed bananas, 1 teaspoon Lemon juice
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and both sugars on medium low speed until combined. Stop to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed with a rubber spatula. Increase speed to medium and continue to beat until pale and fluffy, about 4 to 5 minutes.¾ (170 g) cup Unsalted butter, 1 (220 g) cup Light brown sugar, ½ (100 g) cup Granulated sugar
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, and vanilla extract. Beat on medium high speed until combined.3 large Eggs, 1 tablespoon Vanilla extract
- Beat in mashed banana. The mixture may appear curdled but that's ok. It will smooth out.
- With the mixer on low speed, add flour mixture in three additions alternating with the buttermilk (in two additions), beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Mix each addition until just combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Be careful not to over mix.¾ (180 g ) cup Buttermilk
- Spoon batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with the back of a spoon or offset spatula. Place a kitchen towel on the counter and firmly tap the pan on top of the towel to release any air bubbles.
- Bake for 65 to 75 minutes (loosely cover the cake with foil after 30 minutes of baking to help prevent over browning) until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean with a few moist crumbs and the cake springs back to touch. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Then, invert the cake onto the wire rack to cool completely.
For the Brown butter cream cheese glaze
- After the cake has cooled for 2 hours, prepare the brown butter for the glaze. Place the butter in a small, heavy bottomed saucepan and melt over medium heat. Once melted, increase the temperature to medium high heat. The butter will turn translucent and start to foam. Once this happens stir continuously for 2 to 3 minutes until you see small brown milk solids sinking to the bottom of the pan. Once this happens, remove the pan from heat and pour the browned butter into a heatproof bowl. Allow it to sit at room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes until cool to touch.4 tablespoons Unsalted butter
- In a medium bowl, using a hand mixer, beat brown butter and cream cheese on high speed until smooth. It will look curdled at first but that's ok, it will smooth out.4 ounces Cream cheese
- Add the powdered sugar and mix on low until combined, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed with a rubber spatula so all the sugar is combined. Pour in the spiced rum, half & half, and vanilla extract and whisk by hand until smooth.1 ½ (180 g) cup Powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons Spiced rum, 2 tablespoons Half & half, ½ teaspoon Vanilla extract
- Set the cooling rack with the cake over a piece of wax or parchment paper and pour the glaze over the cake. Gently tap the cooling rack if needed to help the glaze drizzle down the sides of the cake. Top the cake with a dusting of ground cinnamon if desired. Enjoy!!
Notes
-
- Properly measure your flour. For best results, I recommend weighing your ingredients, especially the flour. If you do not have a food scale, start first by fluffing your flour. Fluffing will create air between the flour particles and it will no longer look compressed. Next, spoon the flour into a measuring cup and level it off using the back of a butterknife. Avoid directly scooping into the flour with a measuring cup. This will add more flour to the recipe resulting in a dry cake.
- Use room temperature ingredients. Room temperature ingredients ensures that the ingredients mix together easily. This helps us to not over-mix the batter and creates an even, moist cake. Allow your ingredients to come to room temperature two hours prior to baking.
- Don’t over bake. The best way to determine if you are baking at the correct temperature is to use an internal oven thermometer. This cake may take longer to bake based on how ripe your bananas are. I suggest checking to see if the cake is done after baking for 55 minutes. Insert a wooden skewer in the middle and along the sides of the cake. When it is done baking, the wooden skewer should come out clean with a few moist crumbs. Over baking the cake will cause it to be dry.
- Leave small chunks of banana. Leaving some small chunks of banana will give you small bites of banana flavor throughout the cake!!
- Use the glaze immediately. After making the glaze, glaze the cake immediately. The longer the glaze sits the harder it will be to pour. Before glazing, be sure your cake is completely cool or the glaze will melt. This should take approximately 2 hours.
- Watch the butter so it doesn’t burn. It is important not to step away from the pan when browning your butter for the glaze. It should take approximately 2 – 3 minutes for the butter to brown.
- Use brick style cream cheese. Make sure to use brick style full fat cream cheese and not spreadable or low fat cream cheese. My favorite brand is Philadelphia Cream Cheese.
- Cover the cake with foil. To ensure the cake isn’t browning too quickly, be sure to loosely cover it with foil 30 minutes into baking.
- Baking Time - Depending on how ripe your bananas are, your cake may take anywhere from 65 to 75 minutes to bake. Overly ripe bananas will release more liquid, adding more moisture to your cake. You may need to bake your cake 10 minutes longer than the bake time if needed. Because every oven is different, I suggest checking for doneness 10 minutes prior to the listed time in the recipe, so at 55 minutes. Use a wooden skewer and stick it in the middle of the cake and along the sides. If the skewer comes out with a few moist crumbs then its done. If the skewer comes out wet with cake batter, keep baking until the end of the baking time.
- Storage - Due to the cream cheese frosting, this spiced banana cake is best stored in the refrigerator. Tightly wrap the cake in plastic wrap and foil and store in the refrigerator for 5 days.
Nutrition
Serving: 1sliceCalories: 329kcalCarbohydrates: 49gProtein: 4.9gFat: 12.7gSaturated Fat: 7.6gCholesterol: 67mgSodium: 265mgPotassium: 183mgFiber: 1.2gSugar: 28.6gCalcium: 64mgIron: 2mg
Tried this recipe?Tag @vintage_confections on Instagram and write a star review below!!