Amazing Caramel Banana Nut Cake made with soft, moist banana cake, delicate caramel cream cheese frosting, chopped walnuts and more caramel topping.
Last weekend, was my mother-in-law’s birthday, which means that it was time for me to make another birthday cake. I had to choose from chocolate, strawberry or banana and since my husband’s and his mom’s favorite snack treat is banana nut bread, I decided to make some kind of a banana cake.
I had quite an experience with a banana cake this summer, and that’s putting it nicely because it was pretty much a disaster. I got this great idea to make a bananas foster poke cake and it completely flopped on me. I made a few mistakes with my recipe and we ended up eating just frosting with the topping and tossing the cake. It happens….we learn from mistakes, right?!
So when I made a decision to make a banana cake, I needed to remedy my mistakes and try out a new recipe. I poked around quite a bit, looking for the best banana cake recipe to try and it seems like everywhere I looked, it was always the same exact recipe. I don’t know where the original one came from but every banana cake I saw, used the same recipe. So I figured it must be a good one since it’s so widely used. The only things was, that recipe was for a sheet cake and I wanted a two layer cake. (Sheet cake that’s 9×13 would be better suited for 3 layers.) I made a little adjustment to the amount to make this cake two layer instead of three.
It turned out really, really good! This cake was not only beautiful, it was also really tasty. It was perfect with a cup of coffee for dessert (and for breakfast the next morning). We had some cake leftover and it made a great breakfast treat with my morning coffee. It was especially complimentary using Caramel Macchiato creamer or a Pumpkin Spice creamer from International Delight.
Caramel Banana Nut Cake
Ingredients
- Cake:
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- Pinch of salt
- 2 large ripe bananas
- Frosting:
- 12 oz cream cheese softened
- 3/4 cup whipped topping
- 3 Tbsp caramel topping
- 3/4 cup powder sugar
- Topping:
- 5- 6 oz caramel topping
- About 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325. Grease and lightly flour two 8-inch round cake pans. (To prepare the cake pans, spray them with cooking spray and the sprinkle some flour. Pat the baking pan while holding it on an angle to spread the flour all over the bottom and some up the sides. Turn the baking pan upside-down, over the sink, and pat on the bottom to get rid of the excess flour.)
- Beat butter for a minute, on medium-high speed. Add sugar and beat for a couple of minutes.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Lower speed to low.
- Sift flour, baking soda and salt together.
- Add half the flour mixture to the mixer, beat on low until just incorporated. Add half of the buttermilk and mix until just incorporated. Add remaining flour and then remaining buttermilk.
- Add vanilla and lemon juice, mix until just combined.
- Add mashed banana and mix until just incorporated through the batter.
- Divide batter among the two prepared baking pans.
- Bake for 33-36 minutes, do a toothpick test to make sure that the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Let cakes cool for about 10 minutes, then run a butter knife along the sides of the pans and invert the cakes onto a cooling rack to cool completely. Make sure the cakes are completely cooled before frosting.
- For frosting: Beat cream cheese on medium-high speed, until smooth, 1-2 minutes. Lower the speed to low and beat in powder sugar and caramel. Scrape sides and bottom of the pan. Turn up the speed back to medium-high and beat for about 3-4 minutes, until the frosting is light, smooth and fluffy. Turn speed back down to low and fold in whipped topping. Scrape sides and bottom of the bowl and fold until all mixed.
- To assemble the cake, spread about half the frosting on top of the bottom layer of the cake. Spread half of chopped walnuts all over the top, evenly, in one layer. Drizzle half the caramel all over the nuts.
- Top off with the second cake layer and repeat frosting, nuts and caramel layers on top.
- (Store in the refrigerator.)
Notes
Ingredients
- Cake:
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 3 eggs room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 1/2 cup buttermilk
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- Pinch of salt
- 3 large ripe bananas
- Frosting:
- 2- 8 oz packs cream cheese softened
- 1 cup whipped topping
- 1/4 cup caramel topping
- 1 cup powder sugar
- Topping:
- About 7 oz caramel topping
- About 2 cups chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Use directions from the recipe above.
- **Don't be too worried that the cakes feel heavy. I was concerned about that too but the cake and frosting holds up well because of the nuts, they seem to help support the frosting.
- I hope you enjoy it!**
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This conversation is sponsored by International Delight. The opinions and text are all mine.
Pete Mathis says
Caramel Banana Nut Cake-
I’d like to make this in a 2 or 3 layer 9X13. Do you have a recipe suggestion?
Thanks.
lyuba says
Hi Pete!
You can use the recipe for the 3 layer cake and divide batter between the two 9×13 baking pans. You will need to adjust baking time, I would suggest to start checking after 25 minutes. I hope it comes out the way to want it! 🙂
Laura Dembowski says
This takes banana bread to another level! This is such a beautiful and I’m sure tasty cake!
lyuba says
Oh, totally! “Banana Bread, who?”
Thank you, Laura!
Janet M. says
When you say whipped topping, do you mean Cool Whip? Can I use real whipped cream in its place?
lyuba says
Hi Janet! Yes, I mean Cool Whip. Cool Whip tends to be a bit more dense and thicker than whipped cream. Whipped cream might melt faster (especially homemade) and run easier under a heavy cake.
I hope you enjoy it!