Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting | Best Banana Cake Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why is my banana cake not moist? ›

If you use a yellow (or even worse a green) banana in your cake not only will it not have as much flavour it will be significantly drier. It's important to make sure your bananas are well mashed. If they aren't broken down well enough less moisture is released from the fruit, effecting the texture of your cake.

Baking soda will increase the pH of your banana bread batter, making it more basic or alkaline. At higher pH, Maillard browning reactions occur, leading to a darker colour much faster. This is especially problematic with loaf cakes that take an hour or more to bake properly to the centre.

Banana Cake Ingredients

For the cake: bananas, lemon juice, all-purpose flour, baking soda, salt, white sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla extract, and buttermilk.

To store: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. The best banana cake can also be wrapped in plastic wrap or placed in an airtight container and frozen for up to 2 months! To enjoy, simply let the cake thaw in the refrigerator, or at room temperature!

This means it's tempting to toss all your bananas into the mix when you're ready to bake, to avoid food waste. But if you add too much of the fruit into your batter, your bread could turn out mushy, heavy, and wet. So, it's a good idea to always stick to the recipe's instructions. But why is this such a problem?

Adding more eggs makes for a spongy, less flavorful banana bread. Doubling the number of eggs I was using resulted in a spongy cake with a moist texture. While the banana flavor was present, it wasn't as prominent as it was in other loaves. This had more of a hint of flavor.

While it's okay if the banana peel is dark brown or even black, if the inside is too, then the fruit is beyond ripe and now on its way to rotten. Another sign that bananas have gone bad is if they start leaking any fluids. When in doubt, just toss the bananas out.

Baking soda works best in conjunction with an acidic ingredient. In the case of banana bread, this may be buttermilk, brown sugar, molasses or the bananas themselves. Recipes generally include just enough baking soda to balance the acidity in the batter.

Long ago, bakers learned that the addition of vinegar to baked goods helped them rise and kept the baked goods fluffy and moist. Apparently, the vinegar reacts with the baking soda in a recipe to produce carbon dioxide, a gas that enhances the rise.

Short Answer: The alkaline environment of a batter with baking soda results in discoloration of the pulp fibers. Short Answer: The alkaline environment of a batter with baking soda results in discoloration of the pulp fibers.

What are the black specks in banana cake? ›

In banana cells they carry amyloplasts. Amyloplasts contain starches and when they are exposed to certain chemicals the starches turn black.

In much smaller quantities, the baking soda still has a chemical reaction with acid. Low and behold the acidic component is in bananas, so any excess baking soda that doesn't help the banana bread rise will react, hence green or blue banana bread slices the next day.

Banana cake can be stored in its pan with a lid on it on the counter. Oh, but can banana cake be refrigerated? Sure! In fact, I kind of like to store it like that to help keep it longer and more moist, just be sure to let it sit out for a few minutes before serving so it's not freezing cold.

2. Soak your cake in milk. Soaking your cake in milk is one of the best ways to moisten a dry cake.

Moisture is key when it comes to banana bread, and the ratio of flour to banana makes all the difference. If you use too much flour, you'll end up with dry bread. If you don't use enough, your bread will be too wet. The secret is actually in how you measure the flour.

What to do if you've used too many bananas. If you must add an extra banana into your batter, there are ways to prevent the bread from turning mushy. Using a lot of bananas adds excess moisture, and there are two ways to get rid of it. You could either add more flour or increase the baking time.

You can use light or extra-virgin olive oil. The olive oil will make any bread cake moist. Other things I do for my banana bread are adding a little molasses, just a little bit more sugar and vanilla flavor and more bananas. I usually let it cool a little and then wrap it in aluminum foil.