Browned Butter Banana Snack Cake
Tangy buttermilk, toasty browned butter, warm vanilla and a creamy caramel frosting elevate a humble banana cake into a crave-worthy treat. If you have a few past-their-prime bananas hanging around your kitchen, this snack cake is the perfect way to transform them.
Banana cakes like this have been around for decades, born from the same practical impulse that helped make banana bread so popular: using up old or bruised bananas rather than letting them go to waste, while giving the family a sweet treat at the same time. Banana baking became especially popular during the Depression era, when avoiding food waste mattered more than ever. The simple single-layer format keeps things easy and provides plenty of smaller servings—perfect today for enjoying with coffee or tea or as a quick after-school pick-me-up.
At its core, this recipe is very much a vintage buttermilk banana cake. The same basic ratios of flour, fat and liquid can be found in recipes dating back decades. Where this version takes a slight departure from the typical is:
- Browning the butter with added milk powder for even more toasted milk solids and flavor.
- Replacing a portion of the granulated sugar with brown sugar, which plays up the toasty caramel notes of the browned butter.
- Using a generous amount of vanilla in both the cake and frosting.
- Finishing with a looser, creamier penuche-style frosting that doubles down on the browned butter flavor.
The first time I made this cake, I topped it with just the browned butter, brown sugar frosting. The cake was sweet and moist, slightly dense with a tender crumb. Toasty caramel notes from the browned butter and brown sugar complemented and elevated the banana without overwhelming it, really allowing the banana flavor to shine.
In subsequent bakes, I kept the cake and frosting exactly the same but experimented with a few optional toppings. You can certainly make the cake festive with colorful or seasonal sprinkles, but my favorites were chopped toasted pecans and mini chocolate chips. Both added a little textural crunch along with a complementary supporting flavor.
If you want to treat yourself and your family to a banana cake that feels just a little more special, this recipe is the perfect choice. I hope you make it and, if you do, let me know how it goes.
Browned Butter Banana Snack Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare an 8×8-inch square cake pan by brushing lightly with vegetable oil. If you want to remove the entire cake from the pan easily, line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper, or you can line the whole pan with non-stick foil. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.240 g (2 cups) all purpose flour, 3 g (½ tsp) baking soda, 3 g (½ tsp) salt
- Place the butter and milk powder in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until bubbling and golden brown, about 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add cold milk to stop the cooking and replace the evaporated liquid.110 g (½ cup) butter, 10 g (2 tsp) dry milk powder, 45 ml (3 tbsp) milk
- Add the butter and milk mixture to a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. With the mixer running on medium-low, gradually add the sugar and brown sugar.200 g (1 cup) sugar, 110 g (½ cup) brown sugar
- Add the eggs one at a time beating thoroughly after each one. Scrape down the bowl. Beat in the mashed banana and vanilla and well combined.2 large eggs, 15 ml (1 tbsp) vanilla bean paste, 230 g (1 ½ cups) very ripe banana
- With mixer on medium-low, add the flour mixture to batter, alternately with the buttermilk, starting and ending with the flour mixture. Mix just until combined and smooth. (Do not over-mix after adding the flour).120 ml (½ cup) buttermilk
- Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth the top.
- Bake in the pre-heated oven for 30-40 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out with a few moist crumbs.
- Remove cake from oven and allow to cool in the pan for about 20 minutes, before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Meanwhile, make the frosting.
- Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat until bubbling and golden brown, about 3 to 5 minutes.55 g (¼ cup) butter
- Add the brown sugar, milk and salt to the pan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil, stirring, for 2 minutes.55 g (¼ cup) brown sugar, 45 ml (3 tbsp) milk, 3 g (½ tsp) salt
- Remove from the heat, whisk in the heavy cream and allow the mixture to cool to lukewarm. Gradually beat in confectioners’ sugar until frosting reaches spreading consistency. Beat in the vanilla.30 ml (2 tbsp) heavy cream, 180 g (1 ½ cups) powdered sugar, 5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla
- Spread the frosting over the cooled cake before cutting and serving.
- Optional – sprinkle chopped nuts or mini chocolate chips over the top of the frosting for additional texture and flavor.60 g (4 tbsp) mini chocolate chips or chopped, toasted nuts
Private Notes
Nutrition
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