Cream Cheese Filled Banana Cake

This Cream Cheese Filled Banana Cake is super moist, delicious and your new favorite dessert. Filled with an easy and tasty cream cheese filling, and iced with the best cream cheese icing, this banana cake is simply divine! Snack time just got a lot more interesting!

Cream Cheese Filled Banana Cake

Banana bread is the most common “dessert” I make at my house. I consider it a dessert, but really we mostly have it for breakfast with our coffee or late at night when we need a snack or have a sweet tooth.

Today I had a strong craving for that oh so comforting banana bread, but with a richer dessert twist in a cake form. Now I am a fiend for a good cream cheese icing, I almost consider carrot cake and red velvet a vehicle for the stuff. So I thought I’d really make this banana cake decadent by incorporating both cream cheese icing and filing.

Banana Cake?

All I happened to have handy was a bundt pan, so necessity required some creativity. Just goes to show that banana cake doesn’t have to be made in a loaf pan at all and works perfectly well in an unconventional shape. So with that in mind I decided to whip up an easy recipe that doesn’t require any specialized pans or mixers. So get ready to enjoy your new favorite dessert. Don’t worry, I promise not to judge if this also becomes your new favorite snack.

Ingredients in Cream Cheese Filled Banana Cake

Banana cake batter

• Bananas – We want very ripe bananas, just like you would use for banana bread. They are super sweet and best for baking.
• Buttermilk – We want to use buttermilk as it has a nice tang, if you don’t have any on hand feel free to use regular milk.
• Vegetable oil – Something mild is flavorless is what we’re looking for. This is the key to getting a moist rich cake.
• Eggs – Our binding agent for this dessert.
• Vanilla – I used vanilla extract for this recipe but if you have vanilla beans feel free to include them. Vanilla is key to rounding out our flavor in this dish.
• Sugar – White granulated and brown are both needed for this cake base.
• Flour – All purpose flour.
• Salt – Don’t forget the salt in your baked goods! Without it your flavor will fall flat.
• Leavening – I used baking soda and baking powder. If you don’t have one or the other just keep in mind that one teaspoon of baking soda equals 2 – 3 teaspoons of baking powder.

Cream cheese filling

• Cream cheese – Softened at room  temperature.
• Sugar – Granulated is needed for this rich filling. Feel free to cut back on this if you prefer a less sweet dessert.
• Flour – All purpose again.
• Egg – Just one egg to bind this filling together as it bakes.
• Vanilla – Plain ole’ vanilla extract is fine.

Cream cheese icing

• Cream cheese – Softened at room temperature.
• Butter – Unsalted is a key, we want to control the sodium level of this dessert.
• Powdered sugar – This is the sugar to use for these types of fillings or icings.
• Vanilla extract – Again needed for that well rounded flavor.
• Salt – Don’t forget the salt! every layer needs seasoning.

How To Make Cream Cheese Filled Banana Cake

Detailed instructions and measurements can be found on the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page.

• Prepare your oven: Preheat oven to 350 F degrees, spray your bundt pan with cooking spray in the meantime.
• Prepare wet ingredients: Add the ripe bananas to a medium size bowl and mash them using a fork or a potato masher. To it add the buttermilk, vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla extract, and the sugar. Whisk until combined.
• Combine dry ingredients: In a large bowl mix flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together until well combined.
• Incorporate wet with dry: Add the flour mixture to the bowl with the wet ingredients. With a spatula mix until combined. Do not over-mix.
• Combine filling: In a medium size bowl, add all the cream cheese filling ingredients and whisk until smooth. Usually I like to use a spatula to soften the cream cheese further, this makes it easier to whisk everything by hand.
• Combine cake with filling: Pour about 2/3 of the cake batter to the prepared bundt pan. Evenly spoon or pour the cream cheese filling over the cake batter, then pour the remaining cake batter over the cream cheese filling. Smooth the top lightly with a spatula. Place the bundt pan in the oven and bake on middle rack of the oven for 40 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
• Prepare the icing: Prepare the cream cheese icing. Add the cream cheese and butter to a bowl and whisk until smooth. Mix in the remaining ingredients and continue whisking until smooth. Incorporate more milk, a tbsp at a time, until you achieve the desired consistency
• Finish the dessert: Take the cake out of the oven and let it sit in the bundt pan for 5 minutes. Run a knife along the sides of the cake if necessary, then flip the cake over onto a cake tray. Let the cake cool completely before icing.

Tips For Making The Best Banana Cake

• Be sure to use very ripe bananas for this banana cake, ones that are completely brown for this recipe.
• I like my cream cheese icing as thick as possible, hold off on incorporating more liquid to achieve this consistency.
• If you have super ripe bananas and want to make this banana cake at a later date, feel free to freeze them with the peels removed till then.
• Let the bananas stay a little chunky when mashing for this recipe, we don’t want any part of this batter to be over mixed.

Storing Left Over Cream Cheese Icing And Cake

As our filling and icing contain dairy, we want to refrigerate this treat. This method will allow the treat to last 3 – 4 days. If you’d prefer to freeze it be sure to wrap the cake in plastic wrap and aluminum foil for up to 3 months, with the icing stored separately. To thaw the cake you’ll want to keep it wrapped in foil for 3 hours as it thaws on the counter.

Craving More Banana Desserts? Try These:

• Banana Buzz Scones
• The Perfect Banana Muffins
• Banana Upside Down Cake
• Easy Banana Bread
• Banana Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake
• Marbled Chocolate Banana Bread
• Banana Bread French Toast with Caramelized Bananas