This delicious Banana Tray Bake is easy to make all in one bowl. Delicious fluffy banana sponge with cream cheese and caramel frosting. Perfect for sharing!
Must try my Biscoff Banana Bread!
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Why should Banana Bread get all the love? This Banana Tray Bake cake with cream cheese frosting is fluffy, soft and crazy DELICIOUS! This is such an easy banana cake recipe and a traybake version can delight a crowd.
Perfect for sharing at bake sales and gatherings where everyone is guaranteed to ask for a second helping.
A tray bake Banana Cake (a.k.a Banana Sheet Cake) takes its name from the tin it is baked in – usually a 9×13″ traybake tin or a very slightly smaller 9×12″ tin.
Fans of my popular School Cake and Chocolate Traybake will know how much I adore an easy traybake recipe. These single layer cakes are usually topped with a simple glaze or frosting. They take mere minutes to whip up and can be served in so many ways.
Banana Cake Ingredients
Here’s what you will need to make this recipe. Grab your traybake tin and a hand mixer and gather these ingredients:
• Bananas – the riper the bananas the sweeter they are and as such best for baking. Those brown spotty bananas that no one wants to touch are perfect for banana cake and banana bread so don’t throw them out. Waste not and bake a cake!
• Butter, margarine or baking spread such as Stork. Butter needs to be room temperature for this recipe whereas Stork can be used straight out of the fridge which is more convenient. It is also significantly cheaper these days.
• Eggs, a little milk (any kind) and vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste.
• Sugar – you can use caster sugar or a combination of caster and soft light brown sugar. For readers across the pond, caster is superfine sugar. If you can’t find it you can use granulated instead.
• Flour (plain / all purpose) plus baking powder and baking soda. I know the amount of baking powder specified in the recipe card, one tablespoon, sounds like a lot but this is not a mistake!
• For the frosting – I used mascarpone, cream, vanilla, caramel sauce and icing sugar to make a delicious creamy frosting that elevates this simple banana snacking cake into a real treat! A drizzle of caramel, sprinkling of chopped nuts or chocolate curls add a lovely finishing touch.
HOW TO MAKE BANANA TRAY BAKE CAKE
Full measurements and instructions can be found on the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page. Please take a look at the steps and video before attempting this recipe!
Prepare the cake
Mash the bananas with a fork or a potato masher or – ideally – liquidize them in a blender or mini chopper. The bananas need to be really smooth otherwise the can might become dense.
Measure the flour, sugar and raising agents into a mixing bowl using digital scales (<– I love these Oxo scales). Stir to combine the dry ingredients.
Add the mashed bananas, eggs, softened butter, vanilla and milk and beat with an electric hand mixer (or a stand mixer) until the batter is smooth, a couple of minutes at most. Use a spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl halfway through mixing.
Spoon the batter into a greased and lined traybake tin and level. Bake for about 35 minutes or until the cake is springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool completely on a wire rack before adding any frosting.
Make the frosting
Measure the mascarpone (or full-fat cream cheese), sifted icing sugar, vanilla and caramel into a mixing bowl. Drizzle a little of the cream into the bowl and start whisking on low speed to combine the ingredients.
Gradually increase the speed to medium and continue adding the cream until the frosting holds peaks.
Spread the frosting onto the cooled cake and drizzle with extra caramel Sprinkle with white chocolate curls or mixed nuts, slice and enjoy!
Storing Banana Cake
The cake itself, without any frosting, can be kept at room temperature in a covered cake container. It will stay lonely and fluffy for a few days.
If you add cream cheese frosting you will need to keep the cake chilled, especially in warm weather. The cake can stay on the counter, covered, for a couple of hours, away from direct light.
BANANA TRAY BAKE VARIATIONS
Once you make this cake once you will discover that it is perfect for personalizing by adding your own twists. Folding chocolate chips, nuts or dried fruit into the batter is one way to change it up. I would recommend adding about 150g (10.5 oz).
Changing the frosting is another – try using my Biscoff buttercream from my Biscoff traybake instead of cream cheese frosting or simply drizzle with caramel or melted chocolate!
You can also slice the cake in half and layer it with whipped cream, caramel sauce and sliced bananas to make a Banoffee version.
HAVE YOU MADE MY BANANA TRAYBAKE RECIPE? Please leave a rating, post a photo on my Facebook page, share it on Instagram, or save it to Pinterest with the tag #supergoldenbakes and make my day!
Banana Traybake (Banana Sheet Cake)
Equipment & Tools
Ingredients
- 350 g (2 ¾ cups) flour plain / all purpose flour
- 330 g (1 ⅔ cups) sugar caster or soft light brown
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- ½ tbsp bicarbonate of soda
- 200 g (7/8 cup) unsalted softened butter or margarine (Stork)
- 3 large eggs
- 200 g (7oz) ripe bananas / 2 medium mashed well or liquidized
- 2 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 2 tbsp milk
For the Frosting
- 500 g (2 cups) mascarpone or full fat cream cheese
- 60 ml ¼ cup) cold cream double / heavy cream
- 240 g (2 cups) icing sugar powdered sugar
- 3 tbsp caramel or Dulce de Leche
- 2 tsp vanilla paste or extract
To decorate
- caramel to drizzle
- 3 white chocolate curls
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). Mist a rectangular cake tin with cake release or grease with softened butter and dust with flour shaking out any excess. Line the bottom of the tin with baking paper.
- Put the flour and sugar in large bowl. Add the baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and mix together using a balloon whisk.
- Add the softened butter, eggs, milk, vanilla and mashed bananas.
- Start beating together on low speed setting using a hand mixer (or in a stand mixer using paddle attachment).
- Increase the speed to maximum once the ingredients have been incorporated. Beat for a minute then stop and scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a spatula. Beat again until the batter is completely smooth.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared tin and level. Bake for about 35-40 minutes or until the cake is springy to the touch and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Check the cake is done by inserting a skewer in the middle – it should come out clean, the cake should be well risen, golden and springy to the touch. Leave to cool in the tin.
Make the Frosting
- Measure the mascarpone (or full-fat cream cheese), sifted icing sugar, vanilla and caramel into a mixing bowl. Drizzle a little of the cream into the bowl and start whisking on low speed to combine the ingredients.
- Gradually increase the speed to medium and continue adding the cream until the frosting holds peaks.
- Spread the frosting onto the cooled cake and drizzle with extra caramel Sprinkle with white chocolate curls or mixed nuts, slice and enjoy!
Video
Notes
Tips for the perfect Banana cake
This cake is so easy that even novice bakers will find it a easy. Even so there’s a few things you need to know to achieve lemony perfection!- Unless specified otherwise all your ingredients including butter eggs and milk should be at room temperature in order to achieve a smooth batter. If one or more of the ingredients are cold they will cause your batter to split or look curdled.
- To prevent your cakes sticking to the pans, properly grease the cake tin with a little softened butter and then sprinkle with flour shaking out any excess. I prefer to use a cake release spray for most of my baking.
- Oven temperatures can vary so set a timer for 5 minutes before the specified time. The cake is done when the top is springy to the touch, the cake has just started to pull away from the edge of the tin and a skewer or toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
- Avoid opening the oven too often – or too early! – to check if the cake is done or your oven will start losing heat.
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