Caramel Banana Cake

This scratch Caramel Banana Cake has the perfect combination of flavors. Moist banana cake layers are layered with caramel frosting and a homemade caramel glaze.

Why we Love It

There are many reasons to love this recipe! Here are just a few:

• Great for all sorts of special occasions. Keep this in mind for a birthday cake recipe, potluck dessert, holiday cake, and more!
• Fantastic banana flavor, just as with our banana pudding cake, banana split cake, and banana cream cake.
• Cake layers can be baked well in advance and frozen.
• The perfect flavor combination (but one that you don't see every day)!

How to Make Caramel Banana Cake

You can find the full, printable cake recipe at the bottom of this post. Here is a quick look at our steps!

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour three 8 inch cake pans. We also like to line the bottoms of the pans with circles of parchment paper.
• In a medium bowl, whisk these dry ingredients: cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt for 30 seconds, set aside.
• In another bowl, add these wet ingredients: buttermilk, vanilla extract and mashed bananas.  Blend and set aside.

• In the bowl of your mixer, add the slightly softened butter and mix at medium speed until smooth. 
• Gradually add the white sugar and continue to mix on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes until lightened in color and fluffy. 
• Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each until the yellow of the yolk disappears.

• With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients (3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of liquid.)  Mix just until well blended- be careful not to over-mix.
• Pour batter into prepared pans and bake at 350 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes.  Cake is done with a toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.
• Cool in pan for 5-10 minutes on a cooling rack before turning out.

Caramel Frosting and Caramel Glaze

The caramel flavor for this Caramel Banana Cake comes from the homemade caramel frosting and glaze.

Since our caramel frosting (as used for our caramel cupcakes recipe) contains homemade caramel sauce/glaze, we made enough to be used in the frosting as well as for drizzling in between layers and on top.

The caramel sauce or glaze is a combination of dark brown sugar, unsalted butter, heavy cream, salt, a bit of light corn syrup, and vanilla extract- heated in a saucepan. Combine and bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer 6 minutes.

Now for the important part: After 15 minutes of cooling, scoop a cup of the caramel into a bowl for later. It will thicken more as it cools to a good consistency for drizzling. This is our caramel glaze. The remaining caramel will be used in the frosting.

The caramel frosting is a combination of caramel glaze and powdered sugar. See our recipe card for full instructions!

Assembling the Cake

In assembling the Caramel Banana Cake, we placed the first banana cake layer on the pedestal. Next, we spread it with frosting, then drizzled with the cooled caramel glaze. (Keep the glaze away from the edge.)

Top with the next cake layer and repeat. Top the last cake layer and fill in any remaining gaps between layers with frosting. Apply a thin coat of frosting around the sides and on top of the cake. At this point we like to chill the cake to firm things up before applying the second coat. (15 minutes in the freezer or longer in the refrigerator).

Decorating the Cake

Next, apply the second coat of caramel frosting. For a smooth finish, glide over the frosted cake with a metal bench scraper or spatula that has been heated in hot water.

Finally, apply a caramel drip around the top edge of the chilled, frosted cake using the cooled caramel in a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away. Apply more to the top of the cake as well.

I added a little border of rosettes and shells using a star tip 21-- If you do this, make sure the caramel has set up and is no longer traveling down the cake ;0)

We love how this recipe came out! Banana and caramel is a combo that we don't often think about but they are PERFECT together. We hope that you enjoy the recipe!

Recipe FAQs

More Banana Cakes

If you love banana cakes, we have a few more for you to add to your list!

Some of our favorites are Banana Pudding Cake, Easy Banana Pudding Cupcakes, Banana Cream Cake, and Banana Split Cake. We also have a great Easy Banana Cake as well (which is based on a cake mix).

Check out our full roundup of favorites of our best banana cake recipes! We also have a great roundup of favorite caramel cakes!

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Caramel Banana Cake

BY Melissa and Bebe

This dessert combines the perfect combination of caramel and banana flavor! Moist banana cake layers are filled with caramel frosting and a homemade caramel glaze.

Prep Time: 30 minutes mins

Cook Time: 25 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Servings: 15

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Ingredients

Banana Cake Layers

• ▢ 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, slightly softened (not room temperature) (170g)
• ▢ 2 cups white sugar (400g)
• ▢ 3 large eggs, room temperature (place in a bowl of warm water for five minutes if you are in a hurry)
• ▢ 3 cups cake flour (see Note below if you do not have cake flour) (342g)
• ▢ 1 Tablespoon baking powder (12g)
• ▢ ½ teaspoon baking soda (3g)
• ▢ ½ teaspoon 3g salt (3g)
• ▢ 1 ½ cups buttermilk ( see Note below for buttermilk substitute) (363g)
• ▢ 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (8g)
• ▢ 1 ⅓ cups mashed ripened bananas (approximately 3 medium bananas) (300g)

Caramel Frosting and Caramel Glaze

• ▢ 2 sticks unsalted butter
• ▢ 2½ cups dark brown sugar
• ▢ ¾ cup Whipping Cream
• ▢ ¾ teaspoon salt (adjust to your liking)
• ▢ 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• ▢ 2 tablespoons light corn syrup (This prevents graininess)
• ▢ 4 cups powdered sugar (Used for the frosting)

Instructions

• Banana Cake Layers
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour three 8 inch cake pans. We also like to line the bottoms of the pans with circles of parchment paper.
• In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt for 30 seconds, set aside.
• In another bowl, add the buttermilk, vanilla and mashed bananas.  Blend and set aside.
• In the bowl of your mixer, add the slightly softened butter and mix at medium speed until smooth. 
• Gradually add the sugar and continue to mix on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes until lightened in color and fluffy. 
• Add the eggs one at a time mixing until the yellow of the yolk disappears.
• With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients (3 additions of dry ingredients and 2 of liquid.  Mix just until well blended- be careful not to over-mix.
• Pour batter into prepared pans and bake at 350 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes.  Cake is done with a toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached.  
• Cool in pan for 5-10 minutes on a cooling rack before turning out.

For the Caramel Glaze and Caramel Frosting

• We are making the caramel sauce first. Part will be reserved as a glaze. The rest will be used for the frosting.
• Using a large saucepan (deep enough to prevent boil over) melt the butter over medium heat.
• Add the brown sugar, whipping cream, salt, and light corn syrup.
• Stir to blend, try to keep mixture off the sides of the pan. Once the mixture begins to boil, reduce the heat to low.
• Simmer for 6 minutes, checking often to make sure that it is not going to boil over. It should still be bubbling. After 6 minutes, remove from heat.
• Allow the caramel to cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Scoop one cup from the saucepan and reserve it in a bowl. This is what we will use or the caramel glaze in between the cake layers as well as on top.
• The remaining caramel (approximately 2½-2¾ cup) will be used for the frosting. Pour into a heat proof mixing bowl.
• Add the confectioners sugar to the hot mixture bit by bit, mixing at medium speed until smooth.
• The mixture will thicken as the powdered sugar is added.Add a small amount of very hot water (one teaspoon or tablespoon at a time) as needed until the frosting reaches a good consistency for spreading. Makes about 4-4.5 cups of frosting. When not using the frosting, place plastic wrap over the bowl.

Assembly of the Cake

• Place the first banana cake layer on the cake base or pedestal. Spread with a layer of frosting, drizzle with the reserved, cooled caramel (keeping away from the edge of the cake.) I drizzled my caramel through a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away.
• Top with the second cake layer and repeat (spread frosting, drizzle with caramel.) Top with the third cake layer. Fill in any gaps between the cake layers with frosting. I like to do this using a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away.
• Frost the top and around the sides of the cake with a very thin layer of frosting. At this point, we like to chill the cake to firm everything up in the freezer for 15 minutes, or longer in the refrigerator.
• Then, apply the second layer of frosting. The frosting sets up very quickly- you can always mix hot water in very small amounts into the frosting bowl to thin the consistency. If you are going for a smooth finish, gliding over the freshly frosted cake with a hot spatula (heated with hot water) will smooth it. Add additional fresh frosting here and there as needed before smoothing over with the heated spatula.

  *Decorate however you like, but if piping a drip around the sides, the frosting should be smooth enough for the caramel to easily drip down.

Piping the Drip

• Load the reserved, cooled caramel sauce into a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away. Pipe drips around the top edge of the chilled cake, and then fill in on top as well. You can practice first on the inside of a bowl if you'd like. If the caramel is too thick, warm very slightly in small increments in the microwave- just enough to reach desired consistency.
• I piped a final decorative border around the top edge of the cake using a 21 star tip with the last bit of frosting. Apply the border to the chilled, glazed cake. Make sure the caramel is not still migrating downward or your border may slide.

Storage

• Store the cake in an airtight container or under a cake dome at room temperature for 1-2 days. After that, move to the refrigerator to extend freshness.

Notes

 

• Substitute for Buttermilk:  To a measuring cup, add 1 Tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons vinegar or lemon juice.  Add milk  to the  1 ½ mark, stir.   Wait 5 minutes and it is ready to use.

• Substitution for Cake Flour:  Using all purpose flour (plain in the UK)  to make Cake Flour:  For each cup of flour in a recipe, remove 2 Tablespoons of flour and replace with 2 Tablespoons cornstarch (cornflour in the UK). This recipe has 3 cups of flour so you will measure out 3 cups of all purpose flour, remove 6 Tablespoons and replace with 6 Tablespoons cornstarch, whisk to blend.

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