Easiest ever banana cake
This banana cake is one of the easiest cakes we've ever made. Ever. You can make this banana cake plain, or use it as a starting point. Add nuts, dried fruit, chocolate chunks, spices too. Check the tip at the bottom of the page to read how.
If you don't have scales, don't worry. Watch the video to learn how to make our easy banana bread, using up those tired bananas and reducing food waste.
Ingredients
- 3 very ripe medium bananas (around 225g/8oz peeled weight)
- 3 large free-range eggs
- 100g/3½oz soft light brown sugar
- 150ml/5fl oz sunflower or vegetable oil
- 275g/9¾oz white self-raising flour
- 1 tsp ground mixed spice
- 1 tsp baking powder
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4 and grease and line a 900g/2lb loaf tin with baking parchment or use a loaf tin liner.
Peel the bananas and mash with a fork. Tip into a large mixing bowl and add the eggs, sugar and oil. Use a fork or whisk to combine.
Add the flour, spice and baking powder and whisk together until thoroughly combined. Pour into the prepared tin. Bake for 40 minutes, or until the cake is well risen and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. Serve warm or cold in slices. Spread with butter if you like.
Recipe Tips
Recipe variations
You can stir in a handful of sultanas, nuts or chocolate chips into the banana cake batter before pouring the mixture into the prepared tin. (If adding any of these up the cooking time by 5–10 minutes.)
How ripe should bananas be for banana cake?
The flesh of the bananas should be very soft so they are easy to incorporate into the cake mixture. Bananas get sweeter as they ripen and this recipe has been tested using very ripe bananas. It’s a great recipe for using up old bananas with black skins.
If your bananas are slightly less ripe than is ideal, take care to mash them very thoroughly before adding the other ingredients. Alternatively, put them in the freezer overnight and, after they have defrosted, they will be perfectly soft and squishy for baking with.
Other recipes for using up over ripe bananas include Healthy banana pancakes, Banana cookies, Banana and chocolate muffins, Banana milkshake, Banana and chocolate brownie pudding and Vegan flapjacks.