Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting – an easy banana cake, made as a sheet cake! The cake has super banana flavor paired with a sweet and tangy cream cheese frosting. This banana sheet cake is perfect for a large gathering.
Banana Cake
Don’t you love sheet cakes? They’re so easy to make and are perfect for large gatherings.
Take this banana sheet cake . Like our banana bread it has wonderful banana flavor, but with a little more sweetness, and a tangy cream cheese frosting.
One batch of this banana cake easily makes 30 servings, convenient for potlucks and tailgates.
This recipe comes from my friend Kelsey Fischer and her mom Janeen. It’s is a family favorite of theirs.
I’ve made a few slight adjustments to the recipe by adding some lemon juice to the cream cheese frosting to give it more tang, and then added some vanilla to the banana cake batter.
My dad gives the cake a strong two thumbs up and declares it “a keeper”. Enjoy!
Banana Sheet Cake Recipe
- Prep time: 20 minutes
- Cook time: 20 minutes
- Yield: Makes 30 pieces
Here’s a tip, leave the cream cheese and butter for the frosting out while you make the banana cake, that way they will be softened by the time the cake is cooled and ready to frost. This banana cake is on the sweet side (it is a cake after all).
If you are trying to cut sugars, you may want to experiment dropping the sugar in the cake mixture by a half cup and cutting the amount of frosting in half.
Ingredients
Cake
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1 cup white granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- The scraped insides of one vanilla bean, or 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1 cup of mashed ripe bananas (2 large or 3 medium bananas)
- 1/2 cup full fat sour cream
Frosting
- 6 ounces cream cheese, room temp
- 4 Tbsp (1/4 cup) unsalted butter, room temp
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
Method
1 Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) . In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
2 Beat together in a mixer the butter and sugars. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Mix in the vanilla and mashed bananas.
3 Mix in half of the flour mixture, then the sour cream, then the other half of the flour mixture.
4 Spread batter evenly in a greased 10×15 baking pan. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 20 minutes, or until nicely browned and the surface bounces back when you press it with your finger. Cool completely before frosting.
5 To make the frosting, mix all of the ingredients together with an electric mixer. If too stiff to spread, add a teaspoon or two of water. Spread the frosting evenly over the cake and slice to serve.
