This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Banana Bundt Cake is moist, tender, flavorful, and topped with the best cream cheese frosting. Grab those ripe bananas on your counter and make this easy yet delicious bundt cake recipe.
We’ve got tons of uses for your ripe bananas, like Banana Bars, Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, and Caramel Banana Bread
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love Banana Bundt Cake
- Moist and Tender – Banana cake is super moist and tender thanks to the ripe, mashed bananas and the mayo.
- Use up Ripe Bananas – This is a great recipe to use up those ripe, brown bananas sitting on your counter.
- Cream Cheese Frosting – Trust me, this cake is amazing on its own, but you can’t beat the rich, cream cheese frosting on top.
Ingredients for Banana Bundt Cake
Grab those ripe bananas on your counter and some staple baking ingredients to make the best banana cake recipe.
- Unsalted Butter – You can use salted butter as well and just cut the amount of salt in half. Make sure to soften your butter first.
- Granulated Sugar – I prefer using regular white sugar, but you can use a combination of brown and white sugar if you like.
- Ripe Bananas – Use ripe, brown bananas for a moist and sweet cake
- Mayonnaise – Adding mayonnaise is an old school trick that makes your cake incredibly moist.
- Baking Soda – To help the cake rise up nice and fluffy. It also creates a chemical reaction with the mayonnaise to help it be nice and moist.
- Additional Ingredients – All-purpose flour, salt, vanilla extract, and eggs.
- Chopped Walnuts – Or you can swap in pecans. You can add the nuts to both the cake batter and sprinkle extra on top of the frosting. You can also omit the nuts if you need to.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Cream Cheese – Use regular, brick-style cream cheese that has been softened to room temperature
- Powdered Sugar – Also known as confectioners sugar. Do not use granulated sugar.
- Unsalted Butter, Vanilla, Milk, and Salt
How To Bake Banana Bundt Cake
See recipe card below for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
- Preheat. Start by preheating the oven to 350°F.
- Mix Batter. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside. Mix the wet ingredients together in a large bowl using an electric mixer. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, a little at a time.
- Add to Bundt Pan. Grab your bundt pan and grease and flour. Make sure you really get in all the nooks and crannies so it doesn’t stick. Pour in the cake batter and tap the pan on the counter a few times to remove any air bubbles. You can use a rubber spatula to spread out the top so it’s even.
- Bake. Bake the cake for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs. Let cool before frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- Make the frosting. Beat frosting ingredients together in a mixing bowl until smooth. If frosting is too thin, add a little more powdered sugar. If it’s too thick, add a little more milk.
- Cool and frost. Let the bundt cool for 5 minutes before turning the cake out onto a cooling rack. Once the cake is cooled, frost with the cream cheese frosting and sprinkle with extra chopped nuts.
FAQs
The main difference between a Bundt cake and a regular cake is the shape of the pan. A bundt cake pan has a large hole in the middle and has a donut-like shape. This shape allows the cake to touch more edges which allows for more even baking.
It’s really best to bake with ripe, brown bananas. If you use yellow bananas, the cake won’t be nearly as moist or flavorful. When bananas ripen they become sweeter and more flavorful. Trust me, it’s worth the wait to let them ripen.
Yes you can use frozen ripe bananas to make this banana bundt cake recipe! I love freezing ripe bananas (you can freeze them in their skins or mash them and freeze in freezer bags) so I can bake this cake or banana nut bread whenever. Just make sure to let the frozen bananas thaw before using.
The mayo is an old school trick that really moistens the cake. Mayonnaise is made from eggs and oil, which are common baking ingredients. I promise you can’t taste it at all. If you are really against using it, you can replace with sour cream.
How To Serve
It’s best to serve this cake at room temperature. Cut the bundt cake into thick slices and you can even sprinkle each slice with a few extra chopped nuts for a pretty presentation. If the cake has been stored in the fridge, you can let it sit at room temperature for an hour to warm up before serving.
Variations
- Chocolate Chips – Try adding 1 cup of chocolate chips or even chocolate chunks to the cake batter.
- Nuts – In addition to the chopped walnuts in the recipe, you can also use chopped pecans. To intensify the flavor more, try toasting the nuts first!
- Shredded Coconut – Try adding ¾-1 cup of shredded or flaked coconut for a fun tropical flavor.
- Add Pineapple to Frosting – For a fun twist on regular cream cheese frosting, try adding ½ cup of crushed pineapple. You’ll need to increase the powdered sugar by a cup or so to get the right consistency. You’ll still get a creamy frosting but it will have a slight pineapple flavor that pairs well with this cake.
Storing and Reheating
Storage Instructions: This cake can be kept out at room temperature for a few days, so long as your kitchen stays below 72°F. The sugar in the frosting will help preserve the cream cheese. However, any longer than that and it should be refrigerated. In the refrigerator the cake should stay fresh for up to a week.
Freezing: This cake does freeze really well. Freeze in individual portions for best results, that way it only takes about 20-30 minutes to defrost! It’s best to freeze the cake without the cream cheese frosting.
- Turn out the bundt cake while it’s still warm. It’s best to only let the bundt cake cool for 5 minutes before turning it out onto a cooling rack. If you let the cake cool completely, it may stick to the pan making it tricky to remove.
- Greasing and flouring the bundt pan is crucial to easily removing your cake after baking. Make sure to get in all of the nooks and crannies. I like to use a pastry brush to brush vegetable or canola oil liberally in the pan before flouring.
- For best results, use room temperature ingredients.
More Banana Recipes
- Strawberry Banana Smoothie
- Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
- Banana Bran Muffins
- Vanilla Oatmeal Banana Bread
Banana Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Equipment
- 10-inch Bundt Pan
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1.5 cups granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 large eggs
- 5 ripe bananas mashed
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans plus ¼ cup for topping
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 4 ounces cream cheese room temperature
- 4 tablespoons butter room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- pinch salt
- ¼ cup whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- In a medium bowl mix the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.
- Using your stand mixer or a handheld electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed, until creamy (about 5 minutes).
- Add the vanilla and beat until combined.
- Add eggs one at a time and beat until combined.
- Add the bananas and beat again until well combined.
- Add half of the flour mixture to the banana mixture and mix just until combined. Add the mayonnaise and mix again.
- Stir in the remaining flour mixture and when fully incorporated turn off the mixer.
- Remove the mixing bowl and add the chopped nuts. Fold into the batter with a spatula until well combined.
- Liberally grease and flour a 10” bundt pan. Pour the batter into the bundt pan evenly. Tap the pan on the counter top a few times and shake it out a little, to remove any air bubbles. Using a spatula spread the top so that it’s evenly flattened out.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 55-60 minutes.
- Remove and allow to cool for 5 minutes before turning the cake out of the pan and onto a cooling rack.
- While the cake is cooling, make the cream cheese frosting. In a large mixing bowl add the cream cheese and beat for a minute, then add the butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and salt and beat until light and creamy.
- Beat in the milk, a little at a time until the right consistency has been reached.
- Spread the frosting on top of the cooled bundt cake and top with chopped walnuts.
