Banana Snacking Cake With Salted Caramel Glaze

Name: Banana Snacking Cake With Salted Caramel Glaze
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 12 servings
Ingredients: 1/2 cup/115 grams unsalted butter (1 stick), melted, plus more for pan; 1 1/2 cups/185 grams all-purpose flour; 1/4 cup/50 grams granulated sugar; 3/4 teaspoon baking soda; 1/2 teaspoon fine salt; 1 cup/250 grams mashed banana (from 2 to 3 very ripe bananas); 1/4 cup/60 milliliters sour cream; 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar; 2 large eggs; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 4 tablespoons/57 grams unsalted butter (1/2 stick), cut into pieces; 1/3 packed cup/70 grams dark brown sugar; 1/4 cup/60 milliliters heavy cream; Large pinch of fine sea salt; 1/4 cup/30 grams confectioners’ sugar; Flaky sea salt, for serving

By Melissa Clark

Total Time: 1 hour, plus cooling
Rating: 5(1,836)
Notes: Read community notes

This buttery snacking cake is a bit like banana bread, but richer, and topped with a sticky caramel frosting that is dotted with crunchy flakes of sea salt. The frosting, made from brown sugar and heavy cream, is easier than a classic caramel, but just as compelling, with the sea salt contrasting perfectly with its sweetness. It’s important to use ripe bananas here. Soft, spotty ones with dark yellow skins will be the sweetest and most complex. Firm, pale yellow bananas just don’t have enough intensity to flavor the cake.

Featured in: Three Snacking Cakes to Change Your Afternoons

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Ingredients

Yield:12 servings

For the Cake

½cup/115 grams unsalted butter (1 stick), melted, plus more for pan
1½cups/185 grams all-purpose flour
¼cup/50 grams granulated sugar
¾teaspoon baking soda
½teaspoon fine salt
1cup/250 grams mashed banana (from 2 to 3 very ripe bananas)
¼cup/60 milliliters sour cream
2tablespoons dark brown sugar
2large eggs
1teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Glaze

4tablespoons/57 grams unsalted butter (½ stick), cut into pieces
⅓packed cup/70 grams dark brown sugar
¼cup/60 milliliters heavy cream
Large pinch of fine sea salt
¼cup/30 grams confectioners’ sugar
Flaky sea salt, for serving

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

Step 1
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-by-9-inch pan, and then line with parchment paper, letting the two long ends hang over the edges by at least 2 inches.
Step 2
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, granulated sugar, baking soda and salt. Whisk in bananas, melted butter, sour cream, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla.
Step 3
Scrape into baking pan and smooth the top. Bake until the top springs back when lightly pressed in the center, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Let cool completely.
Step 4
When cake is cool, make the glaze: In a medium or large pot (not a small one because the mixture will bubble up), combine butter, brown sugar, heavy cream and salt. Bring to a full boil and continue to boil over medium heat for 1 minute. Remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes.
Step 5
Whisk in confectioners’ sugar until smooth, then immediately pour over cooled cake. Spread evenly across cake and let set for at least 30 minutes. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt before serving.

Ratings

5 out of 5

1,836 user ratings

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Private Notes

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Cooking Notes

justine5 years ago

just eat the cake

Zaphod Bob Dobbs2 years ago

i read the recipe, followed the instructions, made it, then ingested the output i didnt leave a comment on how offended i was on the amount of sugar. i didn't non-chalantly replace bananas with blueberries and off the cuff say it was all i had. i also didn't leave a comment on substituting flour with artisanal stone ground non gmo post-organic gluten free wheat hand gathered by former reformed nuns in a commune somewhere outside of a snall town on the southern slope of mt. something in metrics.

June Hill5 years ago

I forgot the butter! I do not recommend making this change.

Patricia Gilbanks5 years ago

If bananas are not dark and spotty -- roast them in the oven a bit. Saw another recipe mention roasting bananas for baking...

Diana5 years ago

We love this cake! I do 1 and 1/2 the recipe and bake in a 9x13 pyrex baking dish, which is great because it gives us more cake to eat! The baking time is about 30 minutes this way. The glaze is amazing - I want to use it on everything.

hermione5 years ago

How do you get twelve SQUARE servings out of a nine-by-nine inch pan? If you cut the cake three times each way, you get nine servings. If you cut it four times, you get 16 servings. You can only get 12 if you cut it three times one way and four the other way, but your servings will be rectangular rather than square, but the portions in the photo are perfectly square. I'm stumped.

JS5 years ago

This was SO good. My family went crazy over it. The only changes I made were to brown the butter and add a handful of chocolate chips. You could really taste the brown butter which was great. I let the glaze cool until it was a thick semi-spreadable consistency and it looked just like the picture.

prash5 years ago

Finally, measurements in the metric system!

WVAtty5 years ago

Excellent as is! One tip- sift out any lumps in the confectioner's sugar - even with this small amount. Otherwise, you might have little white blobs in the lovely, smooth tan frosting. Also, I used plain yogurt in place of the sour cream.

S. Talarico5 years ago

How good was this cake? I'm staring down three bananas on my counter, willing them into full ripeness so I can make another cake. I may never return to the Fannie Farmer Baking Book banana bread that I have made for many, many years. This cake takes the cake.

Ari5 years ago

One thing I like to do for banana bread is if my bananas are not quite ripe and still completely yellow, I slow roast them in the oven or instant pot to bring out their natural sugar before mashing them with a pastry/dough cutter. Just peel them and put in a pan with a thin layer of water at 300F until they are sweet and mushy.

Karen5 years ago

I love this cake and will make it again! I have already made it twice and the second time I used less powdered sugar, so the glaze came out smoother and easier to pour.

Evelyn McElroy5 years ago

Delicious, but some notes: sift the powdered sugar so there are no lumps in the glaze; let the glaze cool until it is spreadable, which is longer than five minutes in my opinion; leave the cake in the pan until the glaze is totally firmed

Caine5 years ago

Why should containing 'a milk ingredient' mean you should refrigerate? It's been cooked?

M5 years ago

9x9 square pans are not easy to find. Is there another suggested pan size?

Christine2 weeks ago

I’ve made this several times and it’s amazing every single time. I’d like to covert this to a muffin recipe.

Vinophile2 weeks ago

Converted to muffins — same recipe made 9 Used equivalent weight of cooked, softened pears with peels since no bananas Added chopped walnuts Baked in parchment cups at same temperature for 25 minutes = superb

Brona2 weeks ago

The tiny edge piece I had was fantastic. The rest of it disappeared overnight with a sheepish text from my oldest saying IT WAS SO GOOD.

Ellicott City Baker3 weeks ago

Increase confectioner’s sugar to 1/2 c (1/4 c results in runny glaze)

NCSong3 weeks ago

It was everything and more than I imagined it would be. Close enough to a perfect cake for me. I agree with my fellow cooks that an extra fine mesh sifter is needed for the powdered sugar, so there are no white spots in the glaze. Just delicious.

vampirolog3 weeks ago

This is a great snack cake, especially when the flaky salt is sprinkled on top of the glaze. My glaze did not turn out as smooth and solid as it looks like in the photographs, I think because my dark brown sugar was too hard so maybe I didn’t use enough. Nevertheless, I could hardly stop after a piece and a half.

Robin1 month ago

I saved this to my recipe box to make one day, but surprise, my neighbor made it and brought it to our potluck. Ok, maybe the banana cake was just good, but adding the glaze? Fabulous. Perfect.

Sonia1 month ago

Tired of banana bread? Make this cake. It's SO good.

Michelle Damico1 month ago

This cake seemed a bit dense to me. I followed the recipe exactly and wondered if I should have spent more time whipping the batter? I also wonder if there needed to be more time to cook the frosting mixture, since I feel it didn’t pack a great deal of caramel flavor. Not sure I’d make it again.

Melissa1 month ago

This cake is SO. GOOD. No notes. It’s perfect. Always happy to have a banana recipe in my quiver that’s not banana bread. Cake? Delicious. Glaze? Delectable.

Bridget Bakes1 month ago

This was almost excellent for me! Follow directions as mentioned but bake closer to the 30-35 minute mark. I pulled these out thinking they were done at 25 - and was sad to see a raw middle! It still tasted excellent though! A sinfully delicious and rich treat reminiscent of a banana fosters. Even if your bananas are extra ripe, pop them in the oven at 350 a bit to really caramelize them! Will definitely make again with a few changes!

Nancy1 month ago

Could I substitute plain whole milk Greek yogurt for sour cream?

nancy1 month ago

I did run conf sugar thru sifter for glaze

CO1 month ago

I didn't have a 9x9 pan so I used an 8x8 pan and increased the baking time by 10 minutes. Still a good cake but because the cake was thicker due to the pan I used, you don't really get the full effect of a snacking cake with that perfect ratio of cake to icing per bite. Also, I sprinkled flaky sea salt over the cake before serving like the instructions said, but the next day there were wet spots on the cake from where I had put the sea salt. Nothing wrong with it, just wanted to flag!

Mike Holyoke1 month ago

Why butter the cake pan before you put parchment in it?

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