Banana Split Layer Cake Recipe
This Banana Split Layer Cake recipe is the best! Moist banana cake layers are filled with whipped cream cheese frosting ,sliced strawberries, pineapple, and a chocolate drip!
Ingredients
For the Banana Cake
- 2 cups white sugar (400g)
- 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter, softened (170g) Not overly soft, but it should dent easily when pressed.
- 3 large eggs, room temperature If in a hurry, place in a bowl of warm water for 5 minutes.
- 3 cups cake flour (see notes for substitution) (342g)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder (12g)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda (3g)
- ½ teaspoon salt (3g)
- 1 1 /2 cup mashed bananas about 3 bananas
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (8g)
- 1 ½ cups buttermilk (363g)
For the Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
- 16 oz cream cheese, softened We used two 8 oz packages, full fat.
- 2 cups powdered sugar, sift then measure (230g)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (8g)
- 3 cups heavy whipping cream (696g)
Fruit in the Filling
- Sliced Strawberries approximately 3-5 strawberries per layer of filling
- 16 oz Crushed Pineapple, drained (we used two drained 8 oz cans)
Ganache Filling and Drip
- 6 oz Chocolate (Semi-sweet or Dark) We used Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate (171g)
- 6 oz Heavy Cream (171g)
Decorative Details
- Maraschino cherries with stems
- 8 B french tip or similar large star piping tip (Optional) Optional)
- Tip 21 for small shell border around base (Optional)
Instructions
For the Banana Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease and flour three 8x2 inch round pans. You could use two 9 inch pans it you do not have 8 inch pans.
- 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 for 25 to 30 minutes. Cake is done with a toothpick comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Cool in pans 5 to 10 minutes on a cooling rack before turning out.
For the Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
- Freeze your mixing bowl and beaters 15 minutes before whipping the cream (30 minutes if chilling in the refrigerator. Use the whisk attachment for a stand mixer, beaters on your hand mixer.
- Beat the cream until stiff peaks form. This can happen very quickly so don't walk away from the mixer. You are at the stiff peak stage when you lift the beater and the cream stands straight up forming a peak. Keep in the refrigerator while completing the next step.
- In another bowl combine the cream cheese, powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat until very smooth. Fold this into the whipped cream. Cover and refrigerate. If you are piping this frosting and it becomes too soft, just refrigerate the filled piping bag for a short while.
- It is best to use this on your cake the same day it is made.
For the Ganache Filling and Drip
- Place your chocolate into a microwave safe bowl.
- Pour heavy cream over the chocolate and place in the microwave for 1 minute. (Times may vary, see our note below).
- Remove and stir. Microwave for 30 seconds more and when the chocolate has melted almost completely, allow it to sit for 1 minute more before stirring. Stir until you've reached a silky smooth consistency.
- *Microwave times may vary. If you are making a smaller amount of ganache, you will reduce the microwave time. If your chocolate hasn't melted after the 1 ½ minutes recommended in the instructions, simply microwave in small 10-15 second increments until it has nearly completely melted. Let sit one minute, then stir until smooth.
- Allow finished ganache to cool until it is a good consistency for dripping. (You can test this on the inside of your bowl. If it moves too quickly down, let it thicken a little more.
Assembly of Cake
- Place first cake layer on the pedestal or cake base.
- Spread with a layer of whipped cream cheese frosting. Top with a layer of sliced strawberries and crushed pineapple- I like to keep the fruit filling about ½ inch from the edge of the cake. I piped a dam of frosting to help keep everything contained. Drizzle the filling with ganache (I piped mine through a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away).
- Repeat the above steps for the next layer of cake, and then top with the final cake layer.
- Fill in any gaps between the assembled layers with the whipped cream cheese frosting (I fill a disposable piping bag with the tip snipped away for this step). Then, frost as usual.
- This frosting doesn't smooth in quite the same way as buttercream frosting or cream cheese frosting due to the whipped consistency, but a bench scraper is helpful in smoothing the frosting as you rotate it. For an even smoother look, you can chill the frosted cake in the freezer for 15 minutes or so and then fine tune with a heated spatula.
- When you're ready to apply the ganache (I did this on a chilled cake), spoon it into a disposable piping bag and snip the tip away.
- Pipe drips around the top edge of the cake, and then spoon additional ganache on top of the cake and spread with a spatula (to meet up with the drips that you've piped).
- Finally, I piped french tip stars with an 8B tip, placed cherries in each one, and added a small shell border around the base.
Notes
If you prefer to work with cake mixes, we have a Banana Layer Cake- Doctored Mix recipe that can be used in place of our scratch banana layers!
Substitution for cake flour: Measure out 3 cups of all purpose (plain in the UK) flour. You will be removing 2 Tablespoons flour per cup so for this recipe,
Remove 6 Tablespoons of the flour and replace it with 6 Tablespoons cornstarch (corn flour in the UK) Whisk to blend .
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.
**Originally, this recipe used the reverse creaming method of mixing (but had the same ingredients). If you prefer the reverse creaming method, see our Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting for instructions on mixing the cake batter.