Banana Nut Cake with Brown Sugar & Pecan Glaze
An easy, made from scratch Banana Nut Cake boosted with flavor from a dreamy brown sugar and pecan glaze poured over top while the cake cools. It’s out of this world delicious!
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My Mom adapted this recipe from an old Southern banana cake that we loved but felt it needed a little something extra to take it over-the-top! The answer is in the easy brown sugar and pecan glaze. Let me tell you, this glaze is the perfect finishing to this delicious banana cake. I think I’ll be adding it to just about everything!
If you love banana bread (have you tried my blueberry banana bread, by chance?) then you will LOVE this Banana Nut Cake! This cake is perfect to serve as a breakfast coffee cake or a dessert banana cake!
The pecans are glazed with the brown sugar and almost end up like a candied pecan on top of the most delicious banana cake you’ve ever had! It’s heavenly, moist, and downright FABULOUS!
What You’ll Need
The ingredients are simple, here’s a quick glance! Now there are a few substitution options below, so read the full post and find the recipe card below too!
For the Banana Nut Cake:
- Butter: You want your butter to be softened to room temperature.
- Sugar: Regular white, granulated sugar is in the cake.
- Eggs: For best results, make sure eggs are room temperature. Use large eggs.
- Vanilla Extract
- Baking Soda: Make sure your baking soda is fresh!
- Baking Powder: Again, make sure it’s not expired.
- Flour: Regular, all-purpose flour is what you need.
- Salt
- Nutmeg
- Milk: I recommend whole milk but 2% will work just fine.
- Bananas: You want them spotty, brown and super ripe!
For the Brown Sugar & Pecan Glaze:
- Butter
- Brown Sugar: Light brown sugar or dark brown sugar will work
- Pecans: Chopped pecans, you can toast them prior if you wish.
- Vanilla Extract
How to Ripen Bananas Quickly!
A baking tip I learned that comes in handy when making banana bread and this banana nut cake is how to ripen your bananas quickly! You really want super ripe bananas for the best flavor in banana baked goods, so to speed up the process, just place your bananas in a brown paper bag for a day or so. The ethylene that bananas emit as they ripen builds up and helps ripen them quickly.
How to Make Banana Nut Cake:
Let’s dive right into how to make this delicious banana nut cake, shall we?
- Prep your pan: Prep your 9×13 baking pan with nonstick cooking spray or parchment paper. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Cream Butter & Sugar: This step is super important in any baked good. You want to cream your butter and sugar for about 3 minutes, the color will lighten and it will get fluffier in texture! Don’t rush this step!
- Add Eggs & Vanilla: Be sure to stop your mixer and scape down the sides along the way to make sure everything is incorporated!
- Add baking soda, baking powder and nutmeg
- Alternate Flour & Milk: You’ll want to add your flour, alternating with milk, and mixing on low speed, don’t over-mix.
- Add in Bananas: Add in your mashed bananas until just incorporated.
- Pour batter into pan and bake for about 35-40 minutes. Your cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let’s make the Brown Sugar & Pecan Glaze:
- Heat up butter and brown sugar in a saucepan on medium heat.
- Cook, stirring frequently so butter does not burn, until a rolling boil is reached.
- Remove from the stove and stir in the vanilla extract and chopped pecans.
- Pour over slightly cooled banana nut cake. Spread to edges with the back of a spoon or offset spatula.
Recipe Tips & Substitutions
- Want more nuts: Add in 1 cup of chopped pecans to the batter of the cake!
- Switch up the nuts: Love walnuts? Almonds? Add them to the recipe too!
- Prefer a more traditional frosting rather than the glaze? No problem! Just fully cool your banana cake and frost with a vanilla buttercream or cream cheese frosting. Top with chopped pecans!
Want More? You’ll love these dessert recipes too!
Banana Nut Cake with Brown Sugar Glaze
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 1 cup butter - softened to room temperature
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs - room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup milk
- 3 ripe bananas - mashed with a fork (about 1 1/2 cups)
For the Brown Sugar Pecan Glaze
- 1/2 cup butter
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Making the Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Prep a 9×13 baking pan with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or hand mixer), cream the butter and both sugars on medium speed for 2-3 minutes.
- Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing between each addition. Add vanilla.
- Add in baking soda, baking powder, salt and nutmeg. Scrape down bowl if needed.
- Add in flour and milk, alternating between the two. Mix on low speed until combined.
- Mix in bananas until just incorporated. Pour batter into prepared pan.
- Bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Ovens vary so to test for doneness, insert a toothpick or clean knife into the center of the cake, if it comes out clean, it's done.
- Allow to cool while making glaze.
Making the Glaze:
- Place butter and sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
- Stir continuously while cooking until a rolling boil is reached.
- Remove from heat and add in vanilla and chopped pecans.
- Pour glaze over cooled cake, spreading glaze to the sides.
- Allow to cool and enjoy! Store leftover cake covered for up to 3 days.
Looks very delicious, I wanna try now.
would like to see how much of each ingredient is needed to make this cake and icing.
Melissa, at the bottom of the blog post is a full (printable) recipe card with full ingredients and how much of each ingredient.
This sounds so good! If I make two round layers, what would the baking time be?
How much chopped pecans?
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