A light and fluffy banana cake topped with an irresistible brown butter icing. It’s not called best ever banana bundt cake for nothing!
Yes, I’m the crazy lady over here adding yet another banana recipe to my site. I think I have at least 25 recipes that include banana in them, and I don’t plan on stopping. What can I say? I’m bananas for bananas! This cake is one I’ve been wanting to share for weeks now, but I held off until all of my summer recipes were posted. It’s light, fluffy and bursting with banana flavor. And don’t even get me started on that brown butter icing. Absolutely heavenly!!
For this recipe (and really any banana recipe) you want to make sure your bananas are dark and heavily spotted. That’s key in getting a pronounced banana flavor. So if your bananas aren’t quite there yet, give them time. I promise you’ll enjoy this cake so much better a few days later when they’re ripe & ready to go!
Now for a few more tips. Make sure you’re using room temperature ingredients. Your butter should be nice and soft. You’ll want to beat it for 2 minutes, then an additional 4 minutes after adding the sugar and vanilla. We’re going for pale and fluffy. Separate your eggs and beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then gently fold them into the batter. This will help create a tall, light cake. We’re not going for dense banana bread after all.
After the cake comes out of the oven and you’ve inverted it onto a wire rack to let it cool, you can start the icing. Brown the butter (if you’re new to this technique you can find helpful tips here), then beat in the remaining ingredients. If you find the icing is too thick, you can always thin it out by adding a teaspoon or two of hot water. Drizzle it over the top of the cake, then immediately add the nuts. Chopped walnuts or pecans work, just toast them in a dry skillet for a few minutes to give them more flavor and crunch. Don’t skip this step, trust me!
Once the icing has set, you can slice it up and serve it. Just make sure to have a tall glass of milk on hand… you’ll need it! I hope you’ll enjoy this cake as much as our family did. It’s practically perfect in every way!
Banana Bread Bundt Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze Recipe
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter - room temperature
- 1 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs - separated, room temperature
- 1 3/4 cup bananas - very ripe, mashed
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp coarse kosher sea salt
- 1 cup sour cream - room temperature
For the Browned Butter Icing
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 2 tbsp boiling water
- 3 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup chopped pecans - OR walnuts, toasted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Spray a 12-cup bundt pan or 15-cup bundt pan with baking spray or butter and flour it, set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add the sugar and vanilla, beat until pale and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Add the egg yolks and banana, mix until combined.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
- With the mixing speed on low, alternate adding the dry ingredients and the sour cream, mixing just until combined.
- In a small mixing bowl with a hand mixer, whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Using a spatula, gently fold in the egg whites to the batter.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smooth out into an even layer. Place in the oven and bake for 45–55 minutes or until a cake tester (or toothpick) inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for 20 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.
For the Icing
- To prepare the icing, add the butter to a medium saucepan set over medium-low heat. Cook until golden flecks begin to form at the bottom of the pan, then immediately remove from the heat. Stir in the powdered sugar, boiling water, and vanilla. Using a hand mixer, beat until the frosting is easy to spread.
- Drizzle the frosting over the cake, then immediately sprinkle with nuts. Let set for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.
I know what I will be making with all of my ripe bananas! This is not only pretty, it is so tasty too!
Spectacular cake! Beautiful and delicious. My 10-year-old son (especially) raved about it. Thank you for sharing!
You are welcome!! I am glad to share! I am glad your son liked it!
Hello, I made this cake and found that in order to get the icing to drizzle, I had to cut the confectioners sugar to 3 cups and add an additional 2 tablespoons of boiling water, otherwise, it was too thick.
Thank you for sharing that. It is thicker than regular icing, but it should drizzle.
I too found the frosting too thick, not even spreadable. after 4tbsp of boiled water still could not spread it let alone drizzle. read one baker made a chocolate drizzle so may have to try that . I am Canadian so maybe our icing sugar is different, yours called confectioners sugar. Just happy to read someone else had a problem with it.
This cake is amazing! Best banana bread/cake I’ve ever had. I followed the recipe exactly and everyone that tried it loved it. I rarely ever comment on online recipes but I just had to for this one. Thanks for the recipe!
Thank you so much for commenting! I appreciate anyone willing to let me know 🙂 I am happy everyone liked it!
I made this cake last night for my husband’s birthday. I cut down quite a bit on the sugar as I felt 1 3/4 cups was too much. Taste was still wonderful. I also made a chocolate glaze instead of the brown butter frosting. It was definitely a hit. Delicious!