Easy Banana Spice Cake
This banana spice cake is rich with intense banana flavour and the warmth of bold spices. Ground allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves infused with the ripest bananas, and sour cream for added moistness brings this banana cake to a whole new level of delicious!
Hello everybody! I hope you’re all keeping healthy and staying safe. I’m back with another sweet banana treat. I’ve been going bananas crazy over banana cakes lately and I’m so excited to share my new favourite, banana spice cake.
Aren’t banana cakes the best? They’re so easy to make from scratch. Thankfully, I have a hubby who loves bananas so we always have a ready supply for eating and baking.
Sometimes, we just can’t get around to eating up all the bananas – yes, it happens! We live in a country right on the Equator, so bananas ripen very quickly here.
Which is a wonderful thing, really. Overripe bananas make for the most delicious banana cakes. And if I can’t use them up right away, its an easy task to slice and seal the ripened bananas in a Ziploc bag and freeze. By the way, frozen bananas also make delicious banana ice cream too!
Save for Later:Banana Spice Cake
Pin this on PinterestIn fact, this banana spice cake was made with frozen banana slices left over from when I last baked this rum and raisin banana bread. There’s no such thing as too many bananas nor too many banana cakes in my life.
The best banana spice cake
I’m hailing this banana spice cake as my new favourite! And I’m certain you’re going to love it too! Here’s why:
Sweet and rich buttery banana flavour
Overripe bananas are simply the best for banana cake. I know I’ve probably said it way too many times, but this can really make a good banana cake really great. If there’s nothing else, just remember this – overripe bananas are banana cakes’ best friend.
Not only are overripe bananas much sweeter, but their flavour will also be more intense. By intense, I mean bold, concentrated, ultra banana-ey flavour!
And the added bonus? These natural fruit sugars converted from starch in the banana adds a lot of moisture. Surely, that’s a good thing!
Now, if you have bananas that aren’t quite ripe enough for baking, don’t you worry. Here’s how you can quickly ripen bananas in a matter of minutes.
Banana cake: Buttery, moist and tender cake crumb
If you’re looking for a banana spice cake that tastes just as buttery as it does banana-ey (is this even a word, guys?), this is it! This cake is very moist, especially when you mix sour cream with overripe mashed bananas. In the right proportions, this combination literally guarantees moistness!
This cake is not dense or heavy like a banana bread. If I could describe it, I’d say it’s more a cake than a bread. I’m not a fan of crumbly cakes, even if they aren’t dry. This banana spice cake will surely suit you if you love a firm but moist and tender cake crumb, that slices easily and cleanly.
Banana cake packed with bold and warm flavours of spices
Now, I really love spices so I didn’t hold back. I promised a banana spice cake, and spice is what really brings this banana cake over the top. You can go a little easy on the spice and omit some, but I’m hoping you won’t skip any.
There aren’t just 1, 2 or 3, but 4 spices! I’ve tested this recipe with different combinations of spices, but I ended up with allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves as the perfect flavour mix. All said, this is a very versatile recipe so you can reduce, swap out or omit some with your favourite spices.
Easy banana spice cake step-by-step
This recipe has 4 easy parts to make banana spice cake from scratch:
- creaming butter and sugar
- incorporating eggs
- adding dry ingredients – flour, baking soda, salt and spices
- adding the wet ingredients – mashed bananas, sour cream, extract and liquor
Creaming butter and sugar
The most important aspect of creaming butter and sugar is to have your butter at the ideal creaming temperature. Chilled butter should be brought to room temperature. Butter should be slightly softened but not look oily.
Cream butter with sugar until the butter turns pale, and feels light and fluffy on your spatula. This could take 3 to 5 minutes. Occasionally, stop the mixer to scrape down the sides of the mixer to get all of the butter- sugar mixture evenly creamed.
Incorporating beaten eggs
Next, we add lightly beaten eggs in 3 additions. Stay on the same low-medium speed setting and beat each addition until it is fully incorporated.
Don’t panic if you see the butter mixture curdle horribly at first. Just keep at it, and it will become smooth once the water content in the eggs emulsify with the butter fats.
Next, beat in the second addition of eggs. Again, beat until the mixture becomes smooth.
Beat in the last addition until well combined. The creamed butter mixture should still be fairly smooth and light after all the eggs have been incorporated. Now, we’re ready to stir or fold in the dry ingredients.
Adding the dry ingredients
Remember to sift your dry ingredients together – flour, baking soda, salt and all the ground spices, before adding to the creamed butter-eggs mixture.
At the lowest speed setting on your mixer, stir or fold in the flour-spice mixture for 10 seconds until just combined.
Adding the wet ingredients
Last, add mashed bananas, sour cream, vanilla extract and brandy (if using). Still maintaining the lowest speed on your mixer, stir in the wet ingredients until well combined. The final batter should be thick, smooth and with an even texture throughout.
Scoop out the cake batter into the prepared pan. Level the batter and smoothen with a spatula.
Bake!
With your pan filled and oven preheated ahead of time, you’re now ready to bake! Give the filled pan a couple of firm taps on the counter top. This helps to reduce trapped air bubbles in the batter.
This banana spice cake bakes beautifully. It rises steadily and browns evenly as well because of the sugars in the batter.
You’ll probably get those desirable cracked ridges on the surface as it bakes, and that’s just fine. Just look at how gorgeous the deep, toffee-coloured top crust is!
Depending on the pan you use, the crust can be lighter or darker. Baking pans with a dark grey non-stick coating will result in cakes with a darker crust.
Aluminium pans or those with light-coloured coating, on the other hand, will produce cakes with a lighter, golden brown crust.
All that’s left to do is to enjoy this warm and delicious banana spice cake! It is a wonderful cake for the family to enjoy at breakfast and tea . One slice isn’t ever usually enough!
I hope you’ll enjoy! Stay healthy, stay safe everyone!
Here are more sweet treats to inspire your next bake:
- Banana Honey Cake
- Super Moist Rum & Raisin Banana Bread
- Easy Banana Butter Cake – Light, Moist & Buttery
- Marble Mini Bundt Cake
- Cinnamon Hazelnut Chiffon Cake
- Apple Cake with Brown Sugar Cinnamon Streusel Topping
- Super Moist and Tender Carrot Cake
- Walnut Cake
Tried this recipe? I’d love to see! Remember to share your pics on Instagram and tag @foodelicacy or #foodelicacy.
Save this recipe!
Banana Spice Cake
Ingredients
- 200 g ripe bananas mashed
- 115 g butter softened at room temperature
- 150 g caster sugar
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 215 g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground allspice
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- 200 g sour cream
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp brandy optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease the base and sides of a loaf pan 20 x 10 x 6 cm (8 x 4 x 2½ in). Line with baking paper and grease again.
- In a separate bowl, sift plain flour, baking soda, salt and all the ground spices together.
- In an electric mixer fitted with a paddle beater, cream butter and sugar at medium speed, stopping once or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Cream until the mixture turns pale and feels light and fluffy. This may take 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add the beaten eggs in three lots, beating well after each addition. Make sure the egg is fully incorporated into the creamed butter, before adding the next lot.
- Add in the sifted flour and spice mixture. Beat on low speed just long enough until no traces of flour can be seen.
- Add the mashed bananas, sour cream, vanilla extract, and brandy (if using). Beat on low speed until well mixed, about 10 seconds.
- Pour into the prepared pan. Spread the batter evenly to the edges and corners of the pan, and smooth the surface with a spatula. Give the pan a few taps on the counter top.
- Bake in the centre of the oven for 50 minutes, or until the top springs back when lightly pressed. Once done, remove from the oven and leave to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely to room temperature. Best served warm.
