Looking for an alternative to plain old banana bread? This tasty banana traybake with cream cheese icing is delicious! Drizzle on some caramel sauce for a classic banoffee traybake flavour!
I love banana bread, don’t get me wrong. Anything to use up the bananas that the kids have decided not to eat because we bought more because they ate 9000 last week!
But it can get a bit boring!
Generally, I like my cakes to have a lovely sweet drizzle or icing. Cake on its own always seems a little bit unfinished.
So, for this banana traybake cake, I’ve added both!
I think banana cake and cream cheese icing go really well together, like carrot cake. But I also absolutely love banoffee, so for this banana traybake, I’ve gone for a cream cheese icing and a caramel drizzle.
The best of all of the flavours.
The banana traybake or I suppose banoffee traybake is super moist and fluffy, the cream cheese icing is sweet and stiff, and the caramel just finishes it off beautifully.
I did consider a banana cake with banana frosting but thought it might be a bit much, so I’ve stuck to my favourite flavours for this recipe for banana traybake cake.
Banana Traybake Cake Ingredients
I love the flavour of banoffee. So my easy banana traybake has plenty of caramel to give it that fantastically sweet and sticky addition. But you can just skip it entirely. Apart from that, it’s just a super simple banana cake. I Use
Very Ripe Bananas – The riper the banana, the stronger and sweeter the flavour and the softer the texture. The browner the better really!
Margarine – I tend to make cakes with margarine, it’s cheaper, but you can swap to room temperature butter if you prefer.
Caster Sugar – If you don’t have this, swap for granulated. You could also try soft light brown sugar, which works well with bananas, but I haven’t tried this myself.
Eggs
Vanilla Extract
Self Raising Flour – If you’ve only got plain flour, add a teaspoon of baking powder.
Carnation Caramel – Any caramel sauce will do, or you could make your own, but Carnation is perfect for baking.
Butter – You can swap for the cake, but for the cream cheese icing, it needs to be proper unsalted butter. Margarine is oil-based and will give you very sloppy icing.
Icing Sugar
Soft Cheese – I’m a big fan of using store-own versions of things. But cheaper soft cheese (we don’t really have hard blocks of cream cheese in the UK) often has a higher water content, and like margarine will give you sloppy cream cheese icing. I use Philadelphia.
Optional Extras
I do really love a banana and chocolate chip traybake. For this, you can just add 150g of chocolate chips to the cake batter and fold them through for a banana and chocolate traybake.
You can also make a spiced banana cake, adding a teaspoon of cinnamon, nutmeg and maybe a pinch of allspice. This is really warming and yummy, and I definitely recommend it.
In both cases, I’d leave out the caramel drizzle.
Making Banana Cake with Oil
A lot of banana bread recipes use a flavourless oil, like sunflower oil, but I’ve used margarine instead for my traybake with bananas, just like I would for a regular sponge cake.
I always think that oil is for banana bread, and butter is for banana cake. It just has that creamier flavour and I always think softer texture. You don’t tend to have icing for banana bread either.
I was tempted to add yoghurt too, but I like to keep things simple and use as few ingredients as possible, so tried without and it was gorgeous.
Banana Cake
If you prefer to just make a banana cake with cream cheese icing, missing out on the banoffee elements, you can just skip the caramel entirely.
How to Make a Banana Traybake
Banoffee traybake is such a simple banana cake, and remember, the toffee part is totally optional, you can absolutely skip all of the caramel completely and just make a banana traybake with cream cheese icing.
You can get the full recipe in the card below, but it’s basically a simple sponge recipe, with added mashed bananas.
These don’t have to be completely smooth, a few lumps are fine.
If you do want to add caramel, I stab the cake all over (loads!) with a skewer while it’s still warm, and gently heat the caramel on the hob, so that it’s nice and runny. If it’s still too thick, you can melt in a tablespoon of butter to thin it out.
Then, spoon this onto the top of your banana sponge cake and spread it out.
Leave to cool completely before topping with cream cheese icing.
What tin Should You Bake Banana Traybake In?
I use my brownie tin, lined with reusable paper. You can see the specific tin in the recipe card at the bottom of the post but it’s around 10 inches by 8 inches. Any flat baking tray with sides will do.
My cake is fairly deep, so if your tin is bigger and your cake thinner, make sure you reduce the bake time.
How to Make Cream Cheese Icing
Cream cheese is very similar to buttercream in terms of how you make it.
I start by beating room temperature butter until it’s softer.
Then I beat in the icing sugar (the same quantity) before folding in the soft cheese (double, so like 1:1:2).
The important thing is not to overmix. Fold the soft cheese in carefully, and stop even before you think it’s done, as soon as the colour is even.
It’s better to undermix and have a few lumps than to overmix and the mixture thin.
I just roughly spread this on top of my cooled cake with a spatula.
Decorating a Banana Traybake
To decorate I warm a tablespoon of carnation caramel on the hob so that it’s smooth and runny. You can use a microwave, but I haven’t got one.
I leave this to cool a little, before drizzling on to the cream cheese top. You can use either a spoon or a piping bag for this.
Storing Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
Cream cheese is more likely to spoil, and even melt than buttercream. While it’s ok on the side for a few hours, I wouldn’t leave it out overnight, especially if your kitchen is fairly warm.
If you are worried about eating cold cake, store your banana traybake in the fridge, and then take it out for a few hours before you plan to eat it, and place it in an airtight container or lidded stand, so that it reaches room temperature.
Just try not to leave it for more than a few hours.
Banana Traybake
Ingredients
For the Banana Cake:
- 3 Very Ripe Bananas (Mashed)
- 200 g Margarine (or butter)
- 200 g Caster Sugar
- 4 Medium Eggs
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 250 g Self-Raising Flour
- 100 g Carnation Caramel (Optional)
For the Cream Cheese Icing:
- 100 g Butter (Not margarine– at room temperature, and cut into slices or cubes)
- 100 g Icing Sugar
- 200 g Soft Cheese (Philadelphia is the best)
- 50 g Carnation Caramel (Optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (fan-assisted) and grease or line a walled baking tray or brownie tin.
- Whisk together the margarine and sugar in a large mixing bowl until smooth.
- Add the eggs, whisking in one at a time.
- Add the bananas and vanilla and whisk together well.
- Tip in the flour and whisk for 2-3 minutes until smooth (don’t worry about little lumps of banana).
- Pour into the prepared tin.
- Bake in the centre of the oven for 25-30 minutes, until a skewer, comes out clean.
- Leave in the tin to cool.
- While the cake is still warm, if you want to add a banoffee flavour, stab it all over with a skewer, stabbing right to the bottom, and gently warm the caramel up in a pan, or microwave, until it’s runny.
- Drizzle over the still-warm cake and spread all over.
- Leave the cake to cool completely before removing it from the tin, peeling off the baking paper if using.
- To make the cream cheese icing first beat the butter in a mixing bowl.
- Once the butter has softened, add the icing sugar and continue to beat until soft.
- Carefully stir in the cream cheese until the colour is even and there are no big lumps.
- Roughly spread this on the cake.
- For a finishing touch, warm a little more caramel until runny, cool slightly and drizzle over the top using a spoon or piping bag.
Notes
- The caramel is completely optional, a banana cake with cream cheese icing is gorgeous as it is.
- If your caramel still feels too thick to drizzle, stir in a tablespoon of butter until it melts.
- I recommend keeping a cake with cream cheese icing in the fridge and only leaving it out for a few hours at most.
- I use a brownie tin that’s around 10” by 8”, if yours is bigger, your cake won’t be as deep and you’ll need to reduce the baking time.
- Be careful not to overmix your cream cheese icing, it will go very runny quickly. It’s better to undermix, leaving a few lumps if you’re not sure.
- Philadelphia usually has a lower liquid content than stores own soft cheese, which makes it less likely to give you a runny icing.
Any nutritional information is given as a general guide only and may not be accurate. The information is provided using an online calculator and is specific to my ingredients. Please make your own calculations if you want precise information.
