Blueberry Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Name: Blueberry Banana Cake
Prep time: 60 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 95 min
Yield: 12
Ingredients: 2 cups cake flour (sifted); 2 tsp baking powder; 1/4 tsp salt; 1/2 cup unsalted butter (room temperature); 1 cup granulated sugar; 2 large eggs (room temperature); 1 tsp vanilla; 3/4 cup overripe bananas (mashed, approx. 2 medium); 1/2 cup buttermilk (room temperature); 1 cup blueberries (fresh or frozen, tossed in 2 tsp cake flour); 1 cup unsalted butter (room temperature); 6 oz cream cheese (full fat, room temperature); 3 cups powdered sugar (sifted); 1 tsp vanilla

By Olivia, 138 Comments

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The delicious combination of bananas and blueberries gets paired with a tangy cream cheese frosting in this Blueberry Banana Cake recipe.

Generally I consider myself to be a pretty thrifty shopper when it comes to anything for the home or photo/cake props. I think I’ve only paid full price ONCE for a cake stand, and it’s one that I’ve used a whole two times. Not worth it, right? So, I tend do do most of my shopping at thrift shops or discount stores like Homesense. Every once in a while I get suckered in at an antique shop and that’s exactly what happened with this cake stand.

While I was in Sydney, my sister took me to this massive (and amazing) antique store called Mitchell Road Antiques. I think we probably spent like 3 hours in there and still didn’t see everything. They have some killer mid-century modern furniture that I wish I could have fit into my suitcase. But alas, I stuck to smaller bits and pieces.

My sister and I both had our eyes on this pretty cake plate, but she graciously said that I should buy it because I bake more cakes than she does (lol). I loved the vintage vibe of it and had to have it. Totally worth the $25 price tag, or so I thought. It actually might be the only thing I bought from there now that I think of it… Anyhow.

The very next day, and I’m not even kidding you, we saw the exact same cake plate at the Paddington Markets for $2. $2!! Except that it was actually less, because the guy let us take 4 different items, whatever we wanted, for a total of $5. Seriously. Wtf Mitchell Road Antiques?! Not cool.

Did I feel ripped off?? Hellllll yes. But ultimately I was glad that my sister was able to get one as well and really, it was worth the $25 to me, so whatever. We literally saw the exact same cake plate a third time at a thrift store a couple days later for $2 again. Whatever! Mental note to stay away from “antique” shops in the future.

Anyhow, enough of my rambling, onto this pretty Blueberry Banana Cake!

Evidently I have a theme when it comes to making desserts for my mom’s birthday. I hadn’t realized it until this year, but three years in a row now I’ve made a blueberry something or other. I know that my mom prefers berry flavoured desserts over chocolate, and I know she doesn’t like the seeds most berries have, so it’s a natural choice. Not that anyone is complaining, mind you. I actually think blueberries are now overtaking raspberries as my favourite berry.

The most common companion to blueberry seems to be lemon, but I wanted to try something a little different. Seeing as how blueberry banana happens to be one of my favourite smoothie combos, I figured I’d give it a shot in cake form to see if it works. Spoiler: It works! Ridiculously well actually.

How to make this Blueberry Banana Cake recipe

It’s very important to use overripe bananas for this banana cake recipe. If they’re not overripe, the flavour own’t be as strong. It really makes a huge difference! Banana’s have a very short shelf life for me, as soon as there are brown spots I consider them inedible, but you really want to wait until they are super soft and have a lot of brown on them.

You can also use frozen and thawed bananas instead if you stash them in your freezer like I do. Be sure to bring them to room temperature first though and do not drain the liquid.

I use cake flour in this recipe instead of all-purpose flour which is what I typically use. Bananas can have a tendency to make the cake more dense so the cake flour helps to counteract that a bit. It’s not the end of the world if you don’t have any though. All-purpose should work fine too.

I used fresh blueberries in this cake but you can use frozen (not thawed) as well. Either way, be sure to coat them in flour to help prevent sinking. This will sometimes happen regardless of your berry coating efforts, but thankfully the layers aren’t super tall so if there is any sinking it shouldn’t be too bad.

The banana flavour in this cake is delicious and it goes amazingly well with the blueberries!! I love this combo. The tangy cream cheese frosting was a must for this Blueberry Banana Cake recipe. It compliments the cake layers perfectly well.

If you’re looking for a delicious and easy banana cake recipe, this one is for you!

Looking for more Banana Desserts?

Notes & tips for this easy Banana Cake recipe:

Be sure to use very overripe bananas for best flavour. You can also use frozen and thawed bananas instead if you stash them in your freezer like I do. Be sure to bring them to room temperature first though and do not drain the liquid.
Be sure to coat your blueberries in flour before folding them into the batter so that they don’t sink!
You can use frozen blueberries instead of fresh ones, but do not thaw them first.
You can substitute any other berry if you prefer, or leave the berries out altogether for a simple and easy banana cake.
Alternatively, you can use chopped nuts if you prefer. Chopped walnuts would be perfect!
To help ensure your cake layers bake up nice and flat, see my Flat Top Cakes post.

4.86 from 21 votes