This Healthy Banana Cake is made with mostly wholesome ingredients making it better for you! Moist, delicious and easy to make! I topped this cake with a not-so-healthy Cream Cheese Frosting (it balances out, right?) but feel free to top it with your favorite healthy frosting!
Having a bunch of bananas that are overripe is a happy occurrence around here! Overripe bananas mean a lovely dessert is going to be in the works and that is always good news! Typically, that means I am about to make my Easy Banana Bread or Banana Muffins. Today, I decided to treat the family to a delicious and mostly healthy banana cake!
This Healthy Banana Cake is up there with our favorite cakes and it’s one we can indulge in without feeling too guilty about it. Not that cake should ever make anyone feel guilty. Life is too short to fret about food. Without sacrificing taste, though, this delicious banana cake does include some wholesome ingredients that you can feel good about.
Cake with healthier ingredient swaps
Whole wheat pastry flour is one of my favorite swaps to make in baking recipes and its what I use in this healthy banana cake recipe. It’s a simple swap to make in place of all purpose flour and means you get to enjoy all the nutritious benefits that whole wheat flour while still having a lovely texture. In lieu of butter, I use a little heart-healthy olive oil in this recipe but reduce the amount by replacing some of it with Greek yogurt.
The final product is a moist and tender cake that’s still full of that delicious banana flavor we adore but not as unhealthy as a traditional banana cake. If you don’t even tell your friends and family it’s healthier, they probably wouldn’t be able to tell this is a healthier version.
The cream cheese frosting I use in this recipe makes this cake extra delicious. It isn’t a healthy frosting, but this is cake after all and with all of the healthier swaps we made already, I’m personally okay with it. If you want to make it healthier, you could always swap the sugar for a low-calorie sweetener or keto sweetener.
Ingredients in Healthy Banana Cake
- Bananas: overripe, mashed bananas.
- Eggs
- Granulated sweetener: I use coconut sugar but you can use white granulated sugar, brown sugar, or a keto sweetener like erythritol).
- Greek yogurt
- Olive oil: a little heart-healthy olive oil is used in this cake. If you wish to, you can replace it with a mild-tasting oil like avocado oil, grape seed oil, or vegetable oil.
- Milk: any kind of milk can be used here. Skim milk, 1%, 2% or even nondairy milks like almond milk or soy milk.
- Vanilla extract
- Flour: whole wheat pastry flour is what I use but if you don’t have any, you can just use all purpose flour. I do not recommend using regular whole wheat flour (see the section below).
- Baking powder and baking soda: leaveners.
- Cinnamon
- Salt
**Note: Ingredient quantities and full instructions are in the recipe card at the end of this post.**
Whole wheat vs whole wheat pastry flour
Is there a difference between whole wheat flour and whole wheat pastry flour? Yes! There is. Whole wheat pastry flour is more finely ground and suited to baked goods. It produces a softer cake and is a good substitution for regular white all purpose flour. Whole wheat pastry flour can be substitute with all purpose flour using a 1:1 ratio.
Can I just substitute regular whole wheat flour in this recipe? I don’t recommend it. Whole wheat flour is coarser and has a higher protein content. It makes cakes much denser and so it will not produce a fluffy cake. Its better used in a bread recipe, not a tender cake. I would stick with all-purpose flour if you can’t get your hands on whole wheat pastry flour. If you really feel inclined to use whole wheat flour, I would only substitute half of the flour for it and use white flour (all purpose flour) for the rest.
How to make Healthy Banana Cake
- Prep. Preheat oven to 350F and line a 8×8 inch baking dish with parchment paper.
- Mix the wet ingredients. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment affixed, mix the bananas, eggs, and sugar until combined. Add the oil, yogurt, and vanilla extract and milk and mix until well combined.
- Combine the wet and dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until well combined.
- Bake. Pour batter into the cake pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Frost. Once cooled top with the cream cheese frosting (recipe below) or your favorite frosting and serve.
How to make Cream Cheese Frosting
I top my banana cake with cream cheese frosting. It is not healthy, so if you are set on keeping this as healthy as possible, I just want to make that clear. For me, banana cake is SO MUCH BETTER with cream cheese frosting and so there is no substitution that is better for me. Since the cake is healthier, I figure, it all balances out. If you have found a healthy frosting that you love, feel free to swap that in.
To make the cream cheese frosting, you need 4 simple ingredients:
- Cream cheese: softened. For best results, use room temperature cream cheese and butter as it will help ensure the frosting is smooth and not lumpy.
- Butter: unsalted butter, softened
- Icing sugar: aka confectioner’s sugar or powdered sugar
- Milk
To make the frosting, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the cream cheese and beat until smooth (you can also do this using a hand mixer). Add the butter and beat to combine. Next, add the milk and icing sugar and mix until everything is combined and smooth. If needed, add a little more milk to reach desired consistency. Spread over cake using an offset spatula.
Optional Mix-ins
While this cake is delicious as it is, you can certainly add in some other ingredients to take it up another notch, These include:
- Chocolate chips. Banana and chocolate are a match made in heaven. You can add some chocolate chips to the batter to make it extra tasty.
- Peanut butter. Another match made in heaven. Swirl peanut butter into the batter just before baking or make a peanut butter frosting.
- Nuts. Chopped nuts are great added into the batter or even sprinkled over the frosting. Chopped pecans are my favorite but walnuts are also wonderful in this recipe.
- Extra banana. Just before serving, you can add fresh banana slices on top of the frosting.
Can you make this cake vegan?
Yes, this cake can easily be made vegan. You will, of course, need to replace the frosting with a vegan option. For the cake itself, you can make some substitutions for the following ingredients:
- Milk: use a nondairy milk for the cake like almond milk, soy milk, oat milk, etc.
- Eggs: Eggs can be replaced with flax eggs. To make 2 flax eggs, mix 2 tablespoons ground flaxmeal with 5 tablespoons of water. Stir and let it sit for a few minutes to thicken.
- Greek yogurt: You can replace this applesauce.
Storing this cake
Healthy banana cake can be covered or placed in an airtight container and stored in the fridge for several days. This is especially important if you top it with cream cheese frosting.
Can you freeze this cake?
Yes. If you plan to make this cake in advance and freeze the entire thing, I recommend freezing it unfrosted as it will be easier to do without worrying about smudging the frosting. Then when you defrost the cake, you can whip up the frosting and add it. This will give you the best banana cake. If you must, you can also freeze it frosted.
Whether frosted or not, to freeze the cake, wrap it with a few layers of plastic wrap to prevent freezer burn. Then place it an airtight container. If you are freezing individual slices or a partial cake and it fits in a freezer bag, I would recommend using one.
I hope you love this cake as much as I do! Whether making it for a special occasion or just a plain old Monday, it’s always a good idea in my books!
Happy baking!
-Cathy
Looking for more banana recipes? You may also like these other delicious recipes:
Single Serve Banana Bread (perfect for when you only have 1 banana)
Chocolate Banana Bread
Healthy Strawberry Banana Muffins
Healthy Blueberry Banana Muffins
Banana Chocolate Chip Oat Muffins
Chocolate Banana Baked Oatmeal
Healthy Double Chocolate Banana Muffins
Healthy Banana Cake
Ingredients
- 3 bananas ripe, mashed
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup granulated sweetener I use coconut sugar but you can opt for a sugar-free option like erythritol or just use regular granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup Greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour or all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 250 g cream cheese (1 brick or 8oz)
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 2 cups icing sugar (confectioners or powdered sugar)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and line a 8×8 inch baking dish with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment affixed, mix the bananas, eggs, and sugar until combined. Add the oil, yogurt, and vanilla extract and milk and mix until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until well combined.
- Pour batter into the cake pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Once cooled top with the cream cheese icing (recipe below) or your favorite icing and serve.
Cream Cheese Frosting
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the cream cheese and beat until smooth. Add the butter and beat to combine. Add the milk and icing sugar and mix until everything is combined and smooth. If needed, add a little more milk to reach desired consistency. Spread over cake using an offset spatula.
Notes
Note: Metric ingredient measurements are provided as a courtesy using a third-party calculator and are rounded to the nearest unit. The recipes provided on this site have not been tested with metric measurements and their accuracy cannot be verified.
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided is based on third-party calculations and is an estimate only. Accurate nutritional facts will vary based on the particular brands used, portion sizes, measurement accuracy and more.
