When I spotted this Banana Cake with Lemon Icing recipe in Nana Ling's cookbook, I had a hunch that my go-to banana cake recipe was about to be replaced.
My feeling came from the state of the Banana Cake recipe page. It's well-worn and quite possibly has some banana cake splatters from 80 years ago!

Jump to:
An old-fashioned recipe
This recipe is quite possibly the perfect banana cake recipe and is now my banana cake recipe of choice.
The cake is moist and a little more dense than the more "cakey" varieties. It's also less oily than my other recipe.
The banana cake approaches banana bread territory, but once you add the lemon frosting it's most definitely a cake.
I'm not going to go into the difference between banana bread and banana cake here, but I found this interesting article on the topic.
Note that I've updated and tweaked this recipe a little, so keep scrolling for the recipe card at the end of this post.
Ingredient notes
To make the cake you'll need:
- caster sugar
- brown sugar
- butter
- egg
- ripe bananas
- plain flour
- baking powder
- bicarb soda
- milk.
TIP: Make sure you use ripe bananas. You can even freeze them when they've passed their best and thaw them when you're ready to make banana cake.
To make the lemon icing for banana cake you'll need:
- cream cheese
- butter
- lemon
- icing sugar.
How to make the Banana Cake
Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees celsius (fan-forced). Grease a bar tin (approx 24cm x 14cm x 7cm) and line the bottom of the pan with baking paper.
Beat the butter and sugar in a stand mixer on medium-high for 5 minutes.
Add the whisked egg and beat again for a few minutes.
Add mashed bananas and beat again for one minute.
Add sifted flour and baking powder gradually. Mix until combined.
Dissolve bicarb soda in milk and add to mixture. Mix until combined.
Pour mixture into the bar tin and bake for 35-40 minutes.
Allow to cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool.
The icing on the cake
Nana Ling's recipe just includes an instruction to add lemon icing.
So, here I've used my own lemon frosting recipe.
It's sweet, but not too sweet, and has quite a burst of lemon.
To make the lemon icing, cut the cream cheese and butter into small cubes and beat until soft.
Cut the lemon in half and slice off 3 small rounds from the inside of the halves. Juice the remaining lemon and finely grate some zest from the sides of the lemon halves.
Add all of the lemon juice and zest to the mixture and beat well.
Add the icing sugar and continue to beat until soft and fluffy.
Decorating
Slice the top of cake to level if necessary.
Add the lemon frosting and smooth over top. Dab with spatula to create a textured look.
Slice lemon round almost in half. Twist and place along top of cake to create a swirl effect.
Storage
Store the un-iced cake in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Once iced, store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.
This cake can be frozen for up to 6 weeks provided it's wrapped well.
Love this recipe?
If you love this recipe, you might also like to check out:
Banana Cake with Lemon Frosting
Equipment
- Bar (loaf) tin (24cm x 14cm x 7cm)
Ingredients
Banana Cake
- ⅔ cup caster sugar
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- 60 grams butter
- 1 egg
- 3 medium ripe bananas
- 1 ½ cups plain flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon bicarb soda
- 1 tablespoon milk
Lemon Frosting
- 250 grams cream cheese
- 50 grams butter
- 1 small lemon
- ½ cup icing sugar
Instructions
Banana Cake
- Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees celsius/ 340 degrees fahrenheit (fan-forced).
- Grease the tin and line the bottom with baking paper.
- Beat butter and sugars in a stand mixer on medium-high for 5 minutes.
- Add whisked egg and beat again for a few minutes.
- Add mashed bananas and beat again for one minute.
- Add sifted flour and baking powder gradually. Mix until combined.
- Dissolve bicarb soda in milk and add to mixture. Mix until combined.
- Pour mixture into the tin.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes.
- Allow to cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before icing.
Lemon Frosting
- Cut cream cheese and butter into small cubes and beat until soft.
- Cut lemon in half and slice off 3 small rounds from the inside of the halves. Juice the remaining lemon and finely grate some zest from the sides of the lemon halves.
- Add all of the lemon juice and zest to the mixture and beat well.
- Add the icing sugar and continue to beat until soft and fluffy.
Decorating
- Slice top of cake to level if necessary.
- Add frosting and smooth over top. Dab with spatula to create a textured look.
- Slice lemon round almost in half. Twist and place along top of cake to create a swirl effect.
Denise
What size pan? I have no idea what a bar tin is!!
Libby Hakim
Hi Denise - it's about 24cm x 14cm x 7cm (also called a loaf tin). I'll update the recipe to include this information 🙂 Thanks and happy cooking!
Sharon
This is an absolute winner! Thanks so much for sharing.
Libby Hakim
Wonderful! Thanks for leaving a rating and review, Sharon 🙂 Happy cooking!
Regan Doyle
Loved the recipe but hated all the insipid ramblings beforehand. Not your fault though as it's the same with all recipe sites and I assume to provide more room for clicks or something.
Libby
Glad you loved the recipe, Regan. I won't apologise for my "ramblings" because it's my website and I like writing and rambling. Sometimes recipes have a story. If you're not interested or find them intolerable, just scroll a couple of times or buy a cookbook. Easy! Happy baking.
Vanessa
Hi,
This looks amazing. I’m about to try it for the first time and I’m wondering if this will have good results as cupcakes, instead of cake. In that case, do you have suggestions on temperature and time.
Thanks,
Libby
Hi Vanessa. I'm sure it will work really well as cupcakes. Just reduce the cooking time to about 20-25 minutes. Happy cooking!