Banana Cake with Coffee Cream Cheese Frosting.
Banana cake is happening in your kitchen this weekend!
Oh my goodness. The fluffiest banana cake with coffee icing? HELLO LOVER.
I just might be the most popular person in my house right now because Max and Emilia have been begging for banana bread… so I surprised them with banana cake.
They also secretly like to steal a sip of my iced coffee so they are all over the coffee frosting. Shhhhh.
We are all in looooove. Except for Eddie. Who would rather me not ruin frosting with coffee.
But that just means more for us.
Come see me make this on instagram today!
This quarantine situation actually gave me the perfect excuse to make this cake. I mean, it’s giving me the perfect situation to do a lot of things that I’m not doing: like spring cleaning, organizing closets, going through all of my photography props, deep cleaning ever corner of the house… but no. Instead I just keep making things like brownies and cookie bars and cake.
Ever since making my banana bread with espresso glaze, I have been IN LOVE with the combination. It’s so delicious and the banana and espresso complement each other so well.
I don’t know why I waited so long but it’s here! And you will LOVE it.
It’s so good and kind of reminds me of my pumpkin dream cake. Just swap the pumpkin for banana, because the fluffy cream cheese frosting stays the same with one little extra addition. Which is OUT OF THIS WORLD.
Oh my gosh yes yes yes – it’s so good.
You probably have most of the ingredients in your pantry to make the cake. You only need two large-ish bananas too. (P.S. if you find yourself with extra bananas going bad, freeze them for recipes like these in the future!)
I like a combo of brown and white sugars in the cake, but you can use one or the other if that’s all you have. Sour cream can replace the yogurt. And of course you can add more spices to the cake or even some chocolate chips!
Okay now for the tricky part: the espresso powder. This is an ingredient that I do keep in my pantry for recipes like these.
And that’s the secret for the coffee cream cheese frosting. If you don’t have it, you can use instant coffee powder. If you don’t have that, you can try adding 1 tablespoon of strongly brewed coffee, but it may not add quite as much flavor.
And if you don’t have any of those, guess what?
JUST LEAVE IT OUT!
Yes – the frosting will be totally fine and still fantastic because cream cheese is what dreams are made of. So wonderful and creamy and rich and decadent.
Plus, cream cheese frosting is amazing with banana bread so you’re really not missing much. You can always order a jar of espresso frosting and make the coffee flavored icing at another time!
This square makes me so ridiculously happy.
I just love a sheet cake like this because it lasts. It’s not like banana bread which somehow disappears in 34 seconds in our house. This one is a bit more rich and decadent. It serves a crowd, otherwise known as your family that you’re with in your house for the foreseeable future. It travels well, you can bake it ahead of time and it tastes freaking fantastic.
Plus, it’s sort of cute!
Banana Cake with Coffee Cream Cheese Frosting
Banana Cake with Coffee Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup white granulated sugar
- ¾ cup loosely packed brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 to 3 large bananas, mashed
- ½ cup plain greek yogurt
espresso cream cheese frosting
- 1 (8 ounce) blocks cream cheese
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 to 2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9x13 baking sheet or dish with nonstick spray.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
- In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs 1 at a time. Beat in the vanilla extract. Beat in the mashed bananas and yogurt until combined.
- Stir in the dry ingredients on low speed, scraping down the sides if needed, until just combined. Don’t over mix!
- Pour the mixture into the greased baking dish. Bake for 28 to 33 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
coffee cream cheese frosting
- Beat the cream cheese and butter together until creamy. Beat in the sugar and espresso powder until combined. Beat in the vanilla extract. Frost the cooled cake! I like to keep the cake in the fridge because of the cream cheese frosting - plus we love cold cake.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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Perfect bite.
68 Comments on “Banana Cake with Coffee Cream Cheese Frosting.”
This recipe is absolutely incredible and I love the frosting! The frosting would be great on so many different cakes and recipes, in addition to this one!
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Could you sub instant coffee for the instant espresso?
Her notes say you use instant coffee
I’d love to make this over the weekend however I don’t have greek yogurt. Can milk or buttermilk be used as a substitute?
You would be better of using sour cream – it’s consistency is closer to Greek yogurt. Buttermilk is too watery and will affect the recipe.
I need to get bananas! Yum!
Can you use a caramel flavor based Greek yogurt?
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I’d like to make cupcakes with this recipe… how long would the bake time be for 12 standard size?
Made this within minutes of you posting and it’s the best baked good to ever come out of my kitchen…and I bake A LOT!!! This is perfection. Even without the frosting the cake itself was amazing (I hadddd to test a corner while it was hot before I frosted it). Thank you for this recipe!
This was DELICIOUS. I will be making the frosting for everything! Only thing I did differently was add some salt to the frosting. Thanks!
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Pingback: Gâteau de banane avec le glaçage de fromage de crème de café. – Fringales
Pingback: Gâteau de banane avec le glaçage de fromage de crème de café. – Fringales
the cake turned out to be so lovely, frosting has a really nice flavour and is a great addition to the cake, but we had some problems with the frosting since it turned out too runny. fixed it with the addition of corn flour which worked wonders. though I wonder if it is supposed to be 1 8-ounce block or 18 ounces of cream cheese? we are not used to working in ounces so this was kind of confusing.
I used 1 8oz block & it was perfect.
Sorry to hear about your frosting turning out too runny, it’s such a disappointment when you make the effort and things don’t go as planned, happy to hear you managed to rescue it though.
The most common reason for a cream cheese frosting becoming too runny is that it’s been beaten for too long. It can also happen when using room tempered butter and/or cream cheese (always use them both cold from the fridge), or when not using full fat products (lower fat versions have a higher water content and can make your frosting runnier).
I just made this and am waiting for the cake to cool so I can frost it, can’t wait to dig in! ;)
Happy Baking!
Just made this for a friend’s birthday. The combination of banana, cinnamon, cream cheese and coffee is so good! And the cake is light, fluffy and tender. Everything you want in a cake!
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Would it be possible to use regular ground coffee?
Yes, she mentions it is okay to use that.
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Is it supposed to be 2 8oz bricks of cream cheese? I know the pumpkin dream cake recipe for the frosting has 2…, right?
nope!! the pumpkin one does have 2 but i scaled this one down to have a little less frosting. you can definitely still add 2 bricks if you want, it will work – juts gives you even more frosting :)
I have expresso ground coffee but its not instant. Should I use it?
I found that adding a teaspoon or two of brewed coffee still gave plenty of flavor!
Just finished making it. DELISH!!!! I also added a bit of cinnamon and Kahlua French Vanilla to the frosting. The Kahlua is my secret ingredient in my chocolate chip cookies too. Loved this and sharing it with my very small office during this quarantine period.
Made this tonight and hubby couldn’t get enough! Thank you it is soooo good!
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This cake is delicious! I have already added it to my saved recipes for later use. I baked it in two 9″ rounds and kept one for my family and gave the other to relatives. My only qualm with the recipe is that “2 or 3 large bananas” is a very subjective measurement. I found that 1 C mashed banana worked perfectly for this recipe. I also added allspice, clove, and ginger because I can’t resist those spices. Thank you!
We are all sold out of flour everywhere! Would wholemeal flour do ok?
(just lost my job and need to stress bake!)
i am so sorry to hear that sam!! xo
i think you should be able to use it – it may be slightly drier and more dense?
THIS CAKE IS AMAZING! No other words. Delicious!
So good! Everyone lost it over the frosting – perfect with the banana cake.
Do you think cutting the recipe in half and using a 8×8 or 9×9 pan would work? I want to make this but an entire cake would be more than I should it. I’d eat it all, but probably not the best idea. Ha!
I was wondering the same thing. I’m going to try half recipe in 8×8 pan.
Carri, I made this in an 8×8 square pan, and it was just fine. The ingredients are easy to halve. It was yummy! Enjoy!
Hi
I made the pumpkin dream cake a few months back and it was delicious. I noticed that it has very similar ingredients and quantities to the banana cake, but it used 4 eggs, while banana has only 2. I know baking is a science so I am always cautious about changing much, but I am wondering why just 2 eggs and would there be harm in increasing to 3 or 4?
I also agree with one reviewer about the banana amount of 2 or 3. Seems a volume measure or weight would be a better choice to ensure a consistent result.
Thanks
Frosting, 5 stars. I made a concentrated tb of instant coffee and it worked very well! The flavor of the cake is incredible ( I had 2 large unripe bananas, and another half. ) and I got rave reviews from my husband. Despite having softened butter, I could not get the sugar/butter to cream after almost 10 min with my hand mixer which might be why the cake turned out to be a bit dense, but still moist! I was very careful to add in my dry ingredients slowly and stir until just combined. I want to try again to get that “cakey” texture I was so hoping for!
Can I use the Nespresso pod contents for the instant espresso powder?
I’ve already said this on Instagram, but considering I’m already making this again a week after I made it the first time, it bears repeating that this cake is PHENOMENAL. Like, one of the best cakes I’ve ever made or eaten. Today I’m cutting it into two small ovals so we can deliver Easter egg cakes to the grandmas doorsteps tomorrow morning.
This cake is amazing! I am NOT a baker and usually mess up baking recipes, but not this one! It came out perfect! Thank you!
this cake is UNREAL. i made it yesterday for easter weekend and my husband and i are obsessed with it! i also gave some away to friends/family and they all texted me afterward to tell me how wonderful it was. it’s super easy to make and the frosting will blow your mind. thank you for this beautiful recipe!
This is my new favorite recipe! I’m 33 weeks pregnant and have been on such a banana bread kick, and decided to make this for Easter, and I’m so glad I did! I am gluten free, so subbed all purpose GF flour, and it turned out perfectly! I love it straight out of the fridge too. I know it will be a long time favorite ❤️
do you think i could use Oil instead of Butter? am completely out of butter here…
i do! it would work best with vegetable or canola oil!
Amazing. And I added mini chocolate chips. ❤️
Really outstanding. Super easy to make; followed almost exactly (used plain yogurt instead of greek) and baked in a 13×9 pyrex. It turned out perfect! The frosting is soooo good.
I made this today in the quarantine madness. Made it gluten free by using 3/4 Bob’s Red Mill GF flour and 1/4 almond flour (to make the full 2 cups), it was so yummy! I am also am running out of vanilla so used maple syrup in the icing (without coffee), also delicious! Thank you for this wonderful light cake!!
LOVE, LOVE, LOVE THIS BANANA CAKE AND COFFEE CREAM CHEESE FROSTING!!! 😋
Not only is it addictingly delicious, but it’s a foolproof recipe too! This is one of my favorite recipes and will be my go-to for gatherings.
I have followed everything to a tee minus a few adjustments to the recipe:
Banana Cake
6 tablespoons of white granulated sugar
Espresso Cream Cheese Frosting
– 3/4 cup of granulated white sugar
– 1 tablespoon (and a little bit more) of instant decaf coffee (mixed a teaspoon of water to melt the instant coffee for color)
Used 8×8 Pyrex square glass bakeware.
Looks good but confused about the size of the pan. Am I missing something or is it not specified and doesn’t it say somewhere that it is a baking “sheet?”
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Wow! Couldn’t believe how tasty this was! It’s like getting your favorite slice of banana bread with a sip of coffee all at the same time. Delicious!!! And sooooo easy!
This is amazing! Will be our go to in our household instead of regular banana bread. The frosting was perfect and the moisture in the cake was on point. A new favorite!
I’m not a great baker but this turned out AMAZING! One of the best cakes I’ve ever eaten. I used instant coffee (couldn’t find instant espresso) and a tiny bit of almond extract to the icing… SO GOOD!
I made the pumpkin sheet cake and it was delicious. When I saw this I had to try it. Banana is my favorite cake. It is to die for!!! Big hit at family gathering!!!
You are right , we LOVED it! I bake a lot of cakes, and this is tied w the best cake I make. My previous best cake takes more time and i always stress out about baking time (Southern Living Bundt Pound Cake). This Banana Cake is easy to make a foolproof. I baked it 25 minutes. The frosting is scrumptious, I used 1.5 T espresso powder. I rarely leave a review but just had to for this cake. Jessica you had me with the comment “I refrigerate it because I like a cold cake.” I’m like, OMG, I thought it was only me :-). Just started to follow you, now I’m going to order your book. I loved you tips on pickled onions and shallots and you r sticky chicken is a winner. You are 3 for 3 in my book 👌🏼👌🏼👌🏼
I absolutely love this cake, have made it a few times and it’s always a hit. the frosting never turns out quite the right consistency but it does taste delicious.
I want to make the cake for my brother’s birthday ahead of time (but make the frosting on the day) – how long does the cake keep for do you think? Thanks!x
you can definitely make it 1-2 days ahead of time! just store it in the fridge.
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I’m going bananas over this Banana Cake recipe! We love everything made w/bananas. Not only does this cake sound incredibly delicious, but the frosting sounds out of this world! I’m going to bake it this afternoon, so that we can enjoy it on Mothers Day tomorrow, when both of our moms will come over for dinner.