Banana cake is happening in your kitchen this weekend!
Oh my goodness. The fluffiest banana cake with coffee icing? HELLO LOVER.
I just might be the most popular person in my house right now because Max and Emilia have been begging for banana bread… so I surprised them with banana cake.
They also secretly like to steal a sip of my iced coffee so they are all over the coffee frosting. Shhhhh.
We are all in looooove. Except for Eddie. Who would rather me not ruin frosting with coffee.
But that just means more for us.
Come see me make this on instagram today!
This quarantine situation actually gave me the perfect excuse to make this cake. I mean, it’s giving me the perfect situation to do a lot of things that I’m not doing: like spring cleaning, organizing closets, going through all of my photography props, deep cleaning ever corner of the house… but no. Instead I just keep making things like brownies and cookie bars and cake.
Ever since making my banana bread with espresso glaze, I have been IN LOVE with the combination. It’s so delicious and the banana and espresso complement each other so well.
I don’t know why I waited so long but it’s here! And you will LOVE it.
It’s so good and kind of reminds me of my pumpkin dream cake. Just swap the pumpkin for banana, because the fluffy cream cheese frosting stays the same with one little extra addition. Which is OUT OF THIS WORLD.
Oh my gosh yes yes yes – it’s so good.
You probably have most of the ingredients in your pantry to make the cake. You only need two large-ish bananas too. (P.S. if you find yourself with extra bananas going bad, freeze them for recipes like these in the future!)
I like a combo of brown and white sugars in the cake, but you can use one or the other if that’s all you have. Sour cream can replace the yogurt. And of course you can add more spices to the cake or even some chocolate chips!
Okay now for the tricky part: the espresso powder. This is an ingredient that I do keep in my pantry for recipes like these.
And that’s the secret for the coffee cream cheese frosting. If you don’t have it, you can use instant coffee powder. If you don’t have that, you can try adding 1 tablespoon of strongly brewed coffee, but it may not add quite as much flavor.
And if you don’t have any of those, guess what?
JUST LEAVE IT OUT!
Yes – the frosting will be totally fine and still fantastic because cream cheese is what dreams are made of. So wonderful and creamy and rich and decadent.
Plus, cream cheese frosting is amazing with banana bread so you’re really not missing much. You can always order a jar of espresso frosting and make the coffee flavored icing at another time!
This square makes me so ridiculously happy.
I just love a sheet cake like this because it lasts. It’s not like banana bread which somehow disappears in 34 seconds in our house. This one is a bit more rich and decadent. It serves a crowd, otherwise known as your family that you’re with in your house for the foreseeable future. It travels well, you can bake it ahead of time and it tastes freaking fantastic.
Plus, it’s sort of cute!
Banana Cake with Coffee Cream Cheese Frosting
Yield: 8 to 12 people
This banana cake is a delicious twist on banana bread! Covered with espresso cream cheese frosting, it’s an easy and wonderful treat.
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup white granulated sugar
- ¾ cup loosely packed brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 to 3 large bananas, mashed
- ½ cup plain greek yogurt
espresso cream cheese frosting
- 1 (8 ounce) blocks cream cheese
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 to 2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9×13 baking sheet or dish with nonstick spray.
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs 1 at a time. Beat in the vanilla extract. Beat in the mashed bananas and yogurt until combined.
Stir in the dry ingredients on low speed, scraping down the sides if needed, until just combined. Don’t over mix!
Pour the mixture into the greased baking dish. Bake for 28 to 33 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
coffee cream cheese frosting
Beat the cream cheese and butter together until creamy. Beat in the sugar and espresso powder until combined. Beat in the vanilla extract. Frost the cooled cake! I like to keep the cake in the fridge because of the cream cheese frosting – plus we love cold cake.
Perfect bite.
