Brown Butter Banana Cake
This is the best brown butter banana cake! It’s a super moist and tender banana bread-like cake, made with brown butter for an added deep, rich, nutty flavor, frosted with silky brown butter cream cheese frosting and drizzled with salted caramel sauce. It’s truly the best banana cake you’ll ever make!
Why you’ll love this brown butter banana cake
Moist banana cake– this cake is essentially banana bread made into a cake pan! It’s super soft, very moist and full of delicious brown butter flavor. The overripe bananas ensure the most banana flavor, while also giving the cake the most tender and moist texture.
Brown butter cream cheese frosting– truly the icing on the cake! As if cream cheese frosting wasn’t already the perfect pair to a banana cake, using browned butter instead of regular butter, adds a deep nutty flavor to the frosting, making it even more delicious.
Salted caramel sauce– a little added indulgence to top off this incredible cake. The homemade salted caramel sauce blends perfectly into the silky cream cheese frosting, making each bite of banana cake melt in your mouth. It’s the perfect finishing touch on this 10 out of 10 cake.
For the full recipe, including measurements, step by step instructions, and bake time, please see the recipe card at the bottom of the post. This is just a brief overview!
Tips for baking a soft and moist banana cake
Very Ripe Bananas- Make sure you use overripe bananas for the best banana cake with the most banana flavor. Like the ones that have been sitting on the counter for a week; the browner and squishier the better!! (And just my personal opinion, but I don’t think the “oven method” of ripening bananas gives you actually ripe bananas. In my experience they still taste unripe, just squishier. It’s much better to just wait it out and let them ripen naturally.)
Room Temperature Ingredients- You’ll have the best textured cake if you use room temperature ingredients instead of cold. Cold wet ingredients, like eggs, bananas, and buttermilk can cause the cake to bake with more of a gummy consistency, and we don’t want that. We want a moist and fluffy cake!
Mixing the Batter- You’ll want to cream the butter and sugar together until pale in color and fluffy, and the eggs should be mixed in until smooth. It’s okay at this point to mix a lot, as we’re adding air into the eggs, helping to give the batter a “lift”. However, mix the dry ingredients on low speed just until they are blended into the wet ingredients to avoid an overly dense cake.
Measuring Your Flour Properly- If you learn anything from making this recipe, please let it be this: measure your flour (and all other ingredients) with a digital kitchen scale. Don’t scoop your measuring cup into your flour. This will always lead to inaccurate flour measurements and therefore, a wonky bake.
Baking Pan- I recommend using a light colored, metal baking pan. This will help to ensure that the cake gets baked evenly. A glass or dark colored baking pan can cause baking variations, like the cake baking too quickly, being over-baked in some areas, while not fully baked in others.
Brown Butter Banana Cake FAQs
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge, for three days. Allow the cake to come to room temperature before enjoying for the best texture!
I have been on my own gluten free journey lately and have found that most of my recipes turn out great GF- Hooray! There is a caveat though, I can only say the recipe will come out good with Bobs Red Mill 1 to 1 gluten free baking flour. This is not sponsored, but my true opinion. This is the only gluten free flour I use as it bakes most similarly to regular, all-purpose flour.
When making this gluten free, I also discovered that using less buttermilk (1/2 cup/120 ml instead of 1 cup/240 ml) yielded a better end result.
If you don’t have buttermilk on hand, you can easily make it but mixing 1 cup (240 ml) of whole milk with 1 tbsp of fresh lemon juice or white vinegar.
If you make this banana cake, please leave a star review! Also, tag me on Instagram @inbloombakery_ so I can see your creation! Follow me on Pinterest for other dessert ideas!
Brown Butter Banana Cake
Ingredients
For the Brown Butter
- 2 cups (448 g) unsalted butter
For the Banana Cake
- 2 1/4 cups (282 g) all purpose flour
- 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 10 tbsp (140 g) brown butter from above
- 1 1/2 cups (300 g) granulated white sugar
- 3 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/4 cups (288 g) mashed overripe bananas, about 3 large bananas/4 medium bananas
- 1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk, at room temperature
For the Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
- remaining brown butter from above
- 8 oz (226 g) cream cheese, cold
- 2 cups (260 g) powdered sugar
- 1/3 cup salted caramel sauce
Instructions
For the Brown Butter
- Start by browning the butter. Add the butter to a medium pot and heat it over medium heat. Allow the butter to melt and come to a simmer. Simmer until the butter is foamy, giving off a nutty aroma and has turned a deep golden brown. The whole process should take about 10-12 minutes.2 cups (448 g) unsalted butter
- Remove 10 tbsp (140 g) of brown butter and add it to a large bowl. Transfer the remaining brown butter to a second large bowl. Allow both to cool, stirring as it does.
For the Banana Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175 ℃). Grease a 9×9 inch light metal baking pan and line it with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Then set aside the flour mixture.2 1/4 cups (282 g) all purpose flour, 1 1/4 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt
- Whip the smaller portion (10 tbsp/140 g) of cooled brown butter with an electric mixer on high speed until pale and fluffy. (If using a stand mixer, use a paddle attachment.)10 tbsp (140 g) brown butter from above
- Add the sugar to the whipped brown butter. Cream together for 2 minutes on high speed.1 1/2 cups (300 g) granulated white sugar
- Then add in the eggs and vanilla and mix on medium speed until pale in color and smooth, about 1 minute.3 eggs, at room temperature, 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
- Add in the buttermilk and mashed bananas. Mix on medium-low speed until combined. (The batter will look split at this point, but don't worry. It will pull together once the dry ingredients are added in.)1 cup (240 ml) buttermilk, at room temperature, 1 1/4 cups (288 g) mashed overripe bananas, about 3 large bananas/4 medium bananas
- Add in the dry ingredients, mixing on low speed until all is combined and the batter is smooth. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as necessary.
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake the cake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center.
- Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes, then pull up on the parchment paper to release it from the pan. Let the cake continue cooling on the wire rack until completely cooled.
For the Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
- While the cake cools, make the brown butter cream cheese frosting by whipping the larger portion of cooled brown butter on high speed with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, 5-10 minutes.remaining brown butter from above
- Then add in the cold cream cheese and mix on medium speed until fluffy.8 oz (226 g) cream cheese, cold
- Sift in the powdered sugar and mix on low speed until combined, then on high speed for 1 minute until fluffy again.2 cups (260 g) powdered sugar
Assembling the Cake
- When the cake is completely cooled, transfer it to a serving plate.
- Frost the top of the cake with a thick layer of brown butter cheese frosting using an offset spatula. Drizzle salted caramel sauce on top of the frosting and gently swirl it into the frosting with the back of a spoon. Then cut into 16 slices and serve!1/3 cup salted caramel sauce
