Banana Bundt Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze – Thick and soft banana cake with a tender buttery crumb, topped with a decadent Brown Sugar Glaze. The BEST Banana Cake EVER!
This here is the only banana cake recipe you will need from now until the end of time. This is the BEST banana cake I have ever (I mean, ever!) sunk my teeth into.
Note: I now buy bananas, ban my family from consuming them, then wait for them to ripen so I can immediately bake this cake.
Also to be noted, I might need to move up one pants size if this banana cake habit doesn’t quit. Wah.
Prefer a sheet cake? Try this Banana Cake topped with vanilla frosting.
Prefer a different flavor? Try this Pumpkin Bundt Cake.
I have been on a search for the perfect banana cake for months. I went back and forth about whether it should be a sheet cake or a bundt cake. What should I top it with? Cream cheese frosting? Brown sugar glaze? Chocolate? Decisions, decisions.
All my testing landed me on this recipe, which comes from the brilliant Dorie Greenspan.
Banana Bundt Cake
I made very few changes to the cake recipe itself, and I would call it perfect. Nearly two cups of mashed bananas add the banana flavor, sour cream adds moisture and balances out the sweetness, vanilla extract compliments the bananas, and the right amount of butter creates a tender crumb. See what I said about perfect?
I resisted the urge to add cinnamon or chocolate chips in order to really allow the bananas to shine. I am so, so, happy with how this cake turned out. Its flavor and consistency are spot on.
This cake can absolutely hold its own as-is, without the brown sugar glaze. You can serve it plain, dusted with powdered sugar, or with a smear of salted butter. But, because I am a “more is more” type of girl, I went ahead and whipped up a brown sugar glaze to pour over this beautiful Banana Bundt Cake.
Brown Sugar Glaze
This quick and easy glaze is made with butter, brown sugar and vanilla. It tastes like carmel-praline-brown sugar heaven. It slowly drips down the sides of the cake, coating each bite with sweet and buttery deliciousness. The glaze firms up quickly, which means you don’t have to wait too long before diving in.
Bonus: the glaze also acts like glue if you choose to garnish your cake with chopped walnuts or pecans.
Now, what are you waiting for? You know you want a slice of this cake. Bake, eat, share and enjoy.
P.S. There’s bananas in it, so it can totally be eaten for breakfast, right? Morning, noon, or night – I will never, ever turn down a slice of this beauty.
MORE BANANA RECIPES: BEST EVER BANANA BREAD – BANANA BROWN SUGAR FRENCH TOAST – BANANA BAKED OATMEAL
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Recipe
Banana Bundt Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze
Ingredients
Cake:
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 ⅔ cups granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ¾ cups mashed very ripe bananas, approx 4 bananas
- 1 cup sour cream, I used light
Brown Sugar Icing:
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- ½ cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 tablespoons milk
- ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- ¼ cup chopped toasted walnuts or pecans
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- With a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter until smooth and creamy. Add sugar and beat for another minute, at medium speed, scraping down the bowl as necessary. Add vanilla, then beat in 1 egg at a time. Mix in bananas (the mixture might curdle, that’s ok).
- Add half of the dry ingredients, sour cream, and then the remaining dry ingredients, mixing between each addition.
- Thoroughly grease a 12-cup bundt pan and add the batter to the pan. Rap the pan on the counter a couple times (to remove air bubbles), then smooth out the top. Bake for 55-65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Loosely cover the cake with foil if it starts to get dark (this was around 30 minutes for me). Place the pan on a wire rack until it is cool enough to handle, then carefully unmold the cake and place it back on the rack to cool completely.
Icing:
- In a small saucepan combine butter, brown sugar and milk. Bring to a simmer, whisking frequently and cook until the sugar is dissolved, a minute or two. Remove from the heat and cool for 5 minutes.
- Add vanilla, whisking to combine. Add powdered sugar ¼ cup at a time, whisking vigorously, until you reach your desired consistency. The icing will start to firm up quickly so have the cake cooled and ready. Drizzle the icing over the cake and immediately sprinkle with nuts. The icing will set in a matter of minutes.
Nutrition
Nutritional Information is an estimate based on third-party calculations and may vary based on products used and serving sizes.
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment and rating below!
Linda
WOW !!! This turned out amazing when I make banana bread I always add cinnamon so I thought sure why not so I added 1tsp cinnamon to the batter awesome give it try won’t disappoint you Thanks for the recipe
Allison
I’m glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for taking the time to comment. 🙂
Jenn P
Wowzers! This cake is delicious! I sprinkled toasted walnuts on top. Big hit with the family too. Thanks for the recipe!
Allison
I’m glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for taking the time to comment. 🙂
Joanna
This recipe looks amazing! I’d like to adapt it for a layer cake – would it work in two 9” tins? Many thanks.
Allison
I think it will be too much batter for two 9-inch cake pans. I would recommend filling that cake pans about halfway. You can use the leftover batter to make cupcakes/muffins, if you want. Enjoy!
Sherette
I’ve made this a couple of times and both times it was absolutely delicious. This is definitely go to banana bread recipe.
Andrea
Because I love choc. chips in my banana bread, if I did add them, would that be a problem? Would they just sink?
Thank you.
Allison
I would toss them with about 1 tablespoon of flour before adding them to the batter. They might sink a bit but the flour should help with that. Enjoy!
Catherine Niles
I’ve made this cake well over 30 times for family and friends and everyone always wants more! I make it exactly like the recipe and it is perfect each and every time.
Allison
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Mrs. G.
I used the icing recipe on my favorite gluten free box cake (King Arthur, yellow). Amazing results.
Allison
I’m glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for taking the time to comment. 🙂
Wendy
Holy moly! This bundt cake is heaven! I am not an everyday baker by a long shot, but this recipe is fairly simple and so, so good! The level of moistness going on in this cake is beyond lovely. I add pecans to the batter as well as crumbling on the top. The glaze stiffens quickly and makes that beautiful drip down the side that doesn’t quite reach the bottom. I ended up with a ton more glaze than shown in the picture on this site, so you can decide the glaze level you want on your cake. I wants all the glazes!
Thank you for the recipe! 10 out of 10, would make it again!
Allison
I’m glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Hazel
Great recipe. Very easy to make for a novice like me. I accidentally made it gluten-free. I have a child with food allergies so I’m used to using gluten-free flour all the time. I was going to make this with regular flour just for me and my husband to eat since the little fella can’t have nuts either. Still came out delicious and moist with the gluten-free flour. Next time I think I’ll add some nuts to the batter.
Allison
Hi, Hazel! I’m glad that it turned out ok with the gf flour. Thanks for taking the time to share your experience. Enjoy!
Marina
Thank you for responding Allison. I will try it again, just bought the 12 cup Bundt pan as opposed to ten. Also got an oven thermometer, my oven is electric it seems to run a bit hot. Thank you!
Marina.
Marina
Hello Allison,
I made this banana cake three times now but it won’t cook through. I find this recipe amazing but can’t quite succeed in making it. I thought to leases the flour, which I did, but still didn’t rise all the way. Then I put it to bake on convection oven and still does not cook through. What am I doing wrong? Thank you!
Marina.
Allison
Hi, Marina. Are you using a 12-cup bundt pan? Perhaps your pan is too small and that’s why it is taking too long to cook through. Also, I would recommend checking your oven temperature with a thermometer. If your oven is running cool that could definitely have an impact as well. This recipe has hundreds of reviews, so it definitely should work as written.
Good luck! Happy baking!
Diane
This was the best. Now I don’t have to throw my to ripe bananas away. 🙂 Love the frosting. Can I also make this in a 9×13 pan?
Allison
I’m glad you enjoyed it! I would assume you could use a 9×13 pan. You’ll need to adjust the bake time, and be sure not to overfill the pan with batter (not sure if it will be a bit too much). Thanks for stopping by!