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5 from 6 votes

Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Ditch making banana bread this time with your quickly browning bananas and, instead, make this Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting to indulge a little bit!
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time1 hour
Cooling Time1 hour
Total Time2 hours 10 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: banana cake, cakes
Servings: 12 people
Calories: 551kcal
Author: Kathryn

Ingredients

For the cake:

  • 1 ½ cups over-ripe bananas (about 4-5) mashed
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¾ cup unsalted butter (1 ½ sticks) softened to room temperature
  • 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
  • 3 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 ½ cups buttermilk

For the chocolate frosting:

  • 8 ounces cream cheese room temperature
  • ¼ cup unsalted butter room temperature
  • ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 2 cups powdered sugar sifted
  • ¼ tsp pure vanilla extract

Instructions

For the cake:

  • Preheat oven to 275°. Grease two 9" round cake pans and line with parchment paper. Set aside.
  • In a small bowl, mix mashed banana with the lemon juice and combine with fork; set aside. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Scrape sides of bowl to make sure everything is incorporated. Beat in eggs and vanilla extract.
  • Beat in the flour mixture and alternative with buttermilk, starting and ending with flour mixture.
  • Fold in bananas with a spatula until just incorporated.
  • Pour batter evenly into prepared pans and bake for 60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean when stuck in the middle of the cake. Let sit in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove from the pans and place on a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting and assembly:

  • In a stand mixer with whisk attachment, whip cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add in cocoa powder and vanilla until combined and there are no lumps. Gently add powdered sugar and mix until incorporated.
  • Place one cake layer on cake stand. Spread about ¾ cup of frosting onto the center of the first layer and spread into an even layer using an offset spatula. Cover bottom layer with your second layer and place remaining frosting onto top and sides of the cake*.

Notes

*If it's difficult to frost the cake because of crumbs, add a thin layer of frosting (crumb coating) and stick cake in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before frosting the rest of the cake. 
Store cake in the refrigerator.  Bring slices you're going to eat to room temperature.  The cake is much better at room temperature rather than cold in my opinion! 

Nutrition

Calories: 551kcal | Carbohydrates: 78g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 104mg | Sodium: 345mg | Potassium: 243mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 49g | Vitamin A: 848IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 74mg | Iron: 2mg