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My healthy banana cake recipe is soft and crumbly, with a sweet banana flavor and tangy cream cheese frosting. It’s an impressive, one-bowl recipe my family just adores!
Healthy banana cake that tastes indulgent.
If you thought banana bread was the only way to use up leftover bananas, just wait until you try this banana cake.
For this recipe, I took inspiration from my snickerdoodle cake but incorporated the natural sweetness of bananas. When paired with the warming flavor of cinnamon, you’re rewarded with a fluffy, lightly spiced cake that’s naturally sweet and perfectly balanced.
It’s one of my family’s favorite cakes ever. I reckon they purposely let the bananas go brown, so I whip one up.
Need more easy cake recipes? Try my walnut cake, healthy carrot cake, or healthy apple cake next.
Key Ingredients
- White whole wheat flour. It has the texture of all-purpose flour but with a little extra fiber from the whole wheat. I also had luck with whole wheat pastry flour. Use gluten-free flour (with xanthan gum added) if needed.
- Granulated sugar OR sweetener. I used a sugar-free blend of allulose and monk fruit, but you’re welcome to use any sweetener, white sugar, brown sugar, or a sticky sweetener like maple syrup or honey.
- Baking soda. Gives the cake some structure and rise.
- Cinnamon. A must for banana cake!
- Salt. Balances the other ingredients and enhances the overall sweetness.
- Oil. I used coconut oil, but any oil can be used. If not strictly dairy-free, use butter.
- Milk. I used unsweetened almond milk, but coconut, soy, oat, etc. will work well too.
- Ripe bananas. Overripe bananas are key. They give the cake an even more moist texture and more natural sweetness.
- Frosting. Nothing goes better with banana cake than a delicious cream cheese frosting.
How to make a healthy banana cake
I’ve included step-by-step photos below to make this recipe easy to follow at home. For the full printable recipe instructions and ingredient quantities, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Prep. Preheat the oven and grease three cake pans.
Mix. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl, then whisk in the wet ingredients until smooth and no lumps remain.
Bake. Spoon the cake batter into the cake pans and bake until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Let the cakes cool completely.
Frost and layer. Place one cake on a flat surface, then cover it in frosting. Repeat this with the remaining cake layers, and cover the tops and sides with frosting.
Arman’s recipe tips
- Make a single-layer cake. Cut the recipe into thirds and bake the cake in a 9 or 10-inch cake pan.
- Use a blender. While optional, I find making the cake batter in a blender to be a bit easier and more speedy.
- Don’t have any ripe bananas? Fear not! Place the bananas on a baking sheet (in their peels) and bake them at 350F for 15-20 minutes, or microwave them for 20-25 seconds. This will soften the bananas so they’re sweet and easy to mash.
More recipes for overripe bananas
Healthy Banana Cake
Ingredients
- 4 1/2 cups white wholewheat flour * See notes
- 1 1/2 cups sugar ** See notes
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 large bananas mashed
- 1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons oil any neutral oil can be used
- 2 1/4 cups milk I used unsweetened almond milk
- 2-3 cups cream cheese frosting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Grease three 8-inch cake pans and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add the bananas, oil, and milk and mix until a thick batter remains.
- Transfer the cake batter evenly amongst the cake pans. Bake the cakes for 25-27 minutes, or until a skewer comes out mostly clean.
- Remove the cakes from the oven and let them cool completely in the cake pans. Once cooled, frost and layer the cakes.
- Take the first cake and place it on a flat surface. Spread a generous portion of frosting on top. Place the second cake on top and add more frosting to cover. Top with the final cake, and frost the top and the outside of the cake completely.
Great cake, much like banana bread, but definitely tasted the baking soda. Will reduce by a half next time. I saw a recommendation of 1/4 tsp baking soda per 1 cup of flour in most recipes.
Delicious!!!
This cake was delicious! It was fairly dense but not too filling. It was nicely moist as well! The steps to make it are really simple. I cut the sugar in half and it was still amazing (I used coconut sugar).