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Bananas, toffee, a touch of chocolate, and rich cream cheese icing with crunchy toffee topping. Inspired by the classic British dessert, this scrumptious and simple-to-bake Banoffee Cake is a sweet treat the whole family will love.
What Is Banoffee Cake?
If you’re anything like me, the sight of past-their-prime bananas immediately compels you to pull out your mixing bowls and get baking. My usual go-tos for overripe bananas are either banana bread or one of the wide varieties of my healthy, tasty Miracle Muffins.
However, with two of our grandsons visiting over their winter break, I wanted to bake something a little more special. Banana cake came immediately to mind. It’s always a crowd pleaser, especially when topped with a rich, sweet cream cheese frosting.
But I decided I wanted to get a little more creative, and come up with a cake that would inspire a second helping, and maybe even a third. After all, those granddarlings aren’t going to spoil themselves, are they?
After considering a few options, Banoffee pie, a classic British dessert, came to mind.
In case you’ve never had it before, Banoffee pie features a filling of bananas and toffee-flavored caramel, often topped with chocolate shavings. It’s an absolutely divine dessert that you won’t often see on restaurant menus because making it takes a long, long time.
However, my recipe for Banoffee Cake includes the delicious flavors of the original dessert in a simple-to-bake and simply delicious cake.
Here’s what you’ll need to make it.
Ingredients for Banoffee Cake
The recipe includes the kind of standard ingredients you’ll need to make most any cake, plus an extra mix-in that adds crunch and toffee-flavored goodness to this scrumptious dessert.
- Bananas
- Flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Butter
- Eggs
- Sour cream
- White, brown, and powdered sugars
- Vanilla
- Cream cheese
- Heath English Toffee Bits
Heath English Toffee Bits are exactly what they sound like – little bits of crunchy toffee coated with chocolate. Stirring them into the cake batter adds toffee-flavored wow to the cake. Sprinkling them onto the frosting adds even more flavor and a wonderful crunch to this scrumptious cake.
I was able to locate Heath English Toffee Bits at my local market, next to the chocolate chips. You can also just chop up some Heath candy bars, either by hand or in the food processor.
How to Make Banoffee Cake Step by Step
If you’ve ever made a cake, the process for making Banoffee Cake will be familiar to you.
The first step is to mash the bananas, which should be very ripe with brown spots showing on the skin. For muffins and banana bread, I normally just mash the bananas with a fork. But for a cake, you want a smooth texture, so use a stand or hand mixer to puree the bananas.
You’ll whisk the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl, then set them aside.
Creaming the butter, white and brown sugar, vanilla, and eggs together is the next step. Pro tip: Make sure the butter and eggs are at room temperature before you begin. Not only will it make the mixing easier, but it will also help give the cake a lighter, fluffier texture.
After adding the banana puree to the bowl, it’s time to alternately add the dry ingredients and the sour cream in three rounds.
Sour cream is perfect in a banana-based cake. The slight acidity in the sour cream is a perfect tangy complement to the sweetness of the bananas. It also adds moisture and richness to the cake, and gives it a light texture and tender crumb.
The last step before baking is to mix in the Heath bits. The crunch toffee will melt during baking, but the flavor will infuse every bite of the cake.
After the Banoffee cake is baked and thoroughly cooled, you’ll make a simple cream cheese frosting. Again, using room temperature butter and cream cheese will make mixing easier and give you a light, fluffy frosting.
Once the cooled cake is frosted, you’ll sprinkle more Heath bits on the top. Those lovely little bits of toffee will add a satisfying crunch to the cake, and even more toffee flavor. Heaven!
Give this scrumptious Banoffee Cake a try the next time you’ve got overripe bananas. Your friends and family will thank you. And probably ask for the recipe!
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Banoffee Cake – Easy Banana Toffee Sheet Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
- Yield: Makes 1 9x13 sheet cake 1x
Ingredients
For the cake:
- 3 large, very ripe bananas, enough for 1.5 cups of banana puree
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter – at room temperature
- 1 cup white sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 eggs – at room temperature
- 1 lb sour cream
- 3/4 cup Heath English Toffee Bits (or an equal amount of chopped Heath candy bars)
For the Frosting:
- 8 oz cream cheese, soften to room temperature
- ½ cup unsalted butter, soften to room temperature
- 3 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
- ¼ cup Heath English Toffee Bits (or equal amount of chopped Heath candy bars)
Instructions
For the Cake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 cake pan with cooking spray.
- Peel the bananas and place in bowl, Use a stand mixer or hand beaters to puree. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Place butter in a large, deep mixing bowl. Cream butter with the white and brown sugars and vanilla extract for two to three minutes, until light and fluffy. Add eggs on at a time, mixing between additions.
- Add one third of the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix until well combined. Add one third of the sour cream and mix to combine. Repeat twice more. Take care not to overmix the batter.
- Stir in the Heath toffee bits by hand, with a spatula.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the cake comes out clean.
- Remove cake from oven. Allow to cool completely (about an hour) before frosting the cake.
For the Frosting:
- Place the softened cream cheese, butter, and vanilla extract in a deep mixing bowl. Cream together with electric beaters or stand mixer.
- Add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, mixing at a low speed.
- Ice the cake, using all of the cream cheese frosting. Evenly sprinkle the Heath toffee bits over the top of the cake.
