Strawberry Banana Cake is a bright and sweet dessert that’s easy to make. It’s loaded with fruit, so it’s super moist. Perfect for a breakfast, brunch, or dessert.
This Strawberry Banana Cake is a light and fluffy sweet treat for any time of year. But it’s particularly perfect for Spring and early Summer when juicy strawberries are in season; starting in the south in April and May, then moving further North in May and June!
The cake is incredibly moist and tender with banana mashed up right there in the batter and strawberries mixed into every bite. It’s flavor is just the right amount of sweetness with a touch of tart and a hint of molasses from the brown sugar.
This is a delicious cake for serving at a Spring or Summer brunch, such as Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. It’s also a great option to serve with an afternoon tea or coffee. But it doesn’t have to be a special occasion, it makes a perfect dessert after dinner any night too!
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Why you will love this cake
My go-to cake is chocolate, but if I can’t have chocolate, then I love a vanilla cake with strawberries. So, when I was making a banana and strawberry smoothie one morning, I thought why not add banana too? I love banana bread. I love vanilla cake with strawberries. And presto, this cake was born.
Okay, of course I’m not the first person to come up with this recipe. However, it’s definitely not that common to find and I’m a mission to change that. Here are my top 3 reasons to love this cake.
- It’s Fun and Fruity! There is so much vanilla, out there, why not add more flavor? It’s a classic combination of flavors that’s just delicious.
- Less Sugar Needed. Since we are adding fruit and all of the natural sugars that come with it, you will need less refined sugar in this cake. Something to feel good about!
- Super Moist Cake! If you are a novice baker like me, then you have for sure had your fair share of dry cakes. But with this cake, it’s difficult to screw up. It has so much wonderful fruit to keep the batter nice and moist.
Simple Ingredients and Substitutes
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- Banana – Fresh bananas are best for this recipe. You will want the banana to really blend into the batter, so the ripper (skin turning black) the better, as it will be softer and easier to mash into a sort-of paste.
- Lemon juice – Fresh lemon juice brightens up the flavors of the strawberry and banana. But more importantly, it is needed for the Baking soda to do its job, so do not leave this ingredient out. Or at least replace it with another acidic ingredient, scu as lime juice or even vinegar.
- Diced Strawberries – Fresh strawberries are best. You can also use frozen strawberries, but first thaw them in a bowl lined with paper towel to soak up some of the excess moisture before dicing and adding them to the recipe.
- Softened butter – I personally love to use salted butter because I just love the way salt enhances the sweet. You can use unsalted butter.
- Sugar – Regular white granulated sugar is best for this recipe. You can use a sugar substitute (I have not tried it in this recipe), just make sure to follow the instructions for quantity equivalents.
- Brown sugar – It may seem strange to add brown sugar to a vanilla cake recipe, but the Molasses notes in the brown sugar work so well with the fruit and the color helps to make a more unified colored cake. If you don’t have brown sugar, you can replace with white.
- Egg, large – You can use white or brown eggs in this recipe. If you need to substitute the egg, the best options will be to add an extra ¼ cup mashed banana, ¼ cup of unsweetened applesauce, or ¼ cup of plain yogurt.
- Vanilla extract – If you don’t have this, you can either leave it out or swap it with almond extract.
- All purpose Flour, unbleached – I have not yet tested this recipe with Gluten Free flour options. However, when I do bake with Gluten Free Flour, I use Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Flour and add xanthan gum according to the GF flour package instructions for cakes.
- Baking soda – Baking soda is used in this recipe to work with the acidic ingredients, (lemon juice and strawberries). The acid activates the baking soda to create carbon dioxide gas, which helps the cake rise get it’s initial lift in the cooking process.
- Baking Powder – Baking powder is also used in this recipe, but it already contains both an acid. It is activated by moisture and heat, so it’s needed to help throughout the baking process to help the cake rise.
- Salt – Salt balances everything out and heightens the other flavors.
- Buttermilk – Buttermilk is another acidic component in this recipe to work with the baking soda. If you don’t have buttermilk, you can simply use regular milk and add a tablespoon of lemon juice to it.
See recipe card for quantities.
Simple Equipment
For this easy strawberry banana cake recipe, you really do not any special equipment. I did use my Electric Hand Mixer for mixing the butter, sugar, and eggs. However, this is not required, a whisk or spoon will work.
To bake the cake, you need 9×9 cake pan or similar. I used a porcelain dish, but you can also use nonstick metal, ceramic, or glass.
Time Saving Prep-Ahead Steps
We are all extremely busy and making dinner during the week can be overwhelming. Here are steps you can prepare ahead to save time on busy nights! (See the full recipe below)
I always first bring measure the butter and set it out at room temperature to soften before starting anything else.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 8×8” or 9×9″ baking dish with parchment paper or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
In small bowl, combine dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt). Set the dry mixture aside.
In a medium bowl, add the banana and smash it.
Dice the strawberries and add to bowl with bananas along with the lemon juice.
In a large bowl, beat together butter, brown and white sugar until combined with hand mixer on medium speed.
Alternate adding the buttermilk and the dry ingredients (flour mixture) to the wet ingredients (sugar/egg batter) in mixing bowl.
Mix with a whisk or spoon until combined.
Tip: make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl and incorporate that into the batter.
Last, add the mashed bananas and strawberries to the batter and gently fold them in.
Pour the cake batter (it will be thick) into the greased or parchment-lined baking dish.
Bake at 350 F degrees for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Remove from oven and let the cake cool before frosting.
Frosting the cake
For this cake, I love a simple vanilla sugar frosting, but you could do buttercream or cream cheese frosting as well.
To a medium-large mixing bowl, add the confectioners sugar, softened butter, and milk. Mix to combine completely so that there are no lumps. Then stir in the vanilla extract.
You can either frost the top of the cake in the pan or if you used parchment paper, remove the cake and then frost the entire cake.
Time-Saving Tip! Skip the frosting all together and just buy whipped cream to go on top or a side of vanilla ice cream.
Garnish with strawberry slices and enjoy!
Strawberry Banana Cake FAQs
Yes, you can definitely try other fresh fruit in this recipe. Instead of strawberries, you could use raspberries, blueberries, or even peaches in this cake recipe.
The best way to store this cake is in the refrigerator covered. It will last 2-3 days.
You can make the frosting ahead and store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Have you tried this recipe? If so, please leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ star rating in the recipe below! I love to hear your feedback and your rating helps others to find this recipe. Thanks so much!
Strawberry Banana Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 Ripe Banana, large
- ½ teaspoon Lemon Juice, freshly squeezed
- 10-12 Strawberries, diced
- 4 tablespoon Softened butter salted or unsalted
- ¼ cup Light Brown Sugar, packed
- ⅓ cup White sugar
- 1 Egg, large
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup All Purpose Flour
- ½ teaspoon Baking soda
- ½ teaspoon Baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ½ cup Buttermilk
Vanilla Icing
- 2 Cups Confectioners Sugar (powdered sugar)
- 2 Tablespoons Softened Butter, unsalted
- 2 Tablespoons Milk
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Instructions
Cake Steps
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 8×8” or 9×9" baking dish with parchment paper or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a small-medium bowl, combine dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt). Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, add the banana and smash it.
- Dice the strawberries and add to bowl with bananas along with the lemon juice.
- In a large bowl, beat together butter, brown and white sugar until combined with hand mixer on medium speed.
- Add in egg and vanilla and mix ingredients on high until light & fluffy.
- Alternate adding the buttermilk and the dry ingredients (flour mixture) to the wet ingredients (sugar/egg batter) in mixing bowl. Mix with a whisk or spoon until combined. Tip: make sure to scrape the sides of the bowl and incorporate that into the batter.
- Last, add the mashed bananas and strawberries to the batter and gently fold them in.
- Pour batter (it will be thick) into greased or parchment-lined baking dish.
- Bake at 350 F degrees for 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and let cool before frosting.
Frosting Steps
- To a medium-large mixing bowl, add the confectioners sugar, softened butter, and milk. Mix to combine completely so that there are no lumps. Then stir in the vanilla extract.
Diane says
Hi this cake was easy to make. It tasted yummy. Thanks for sharing,. I tried to follow your recipe as posted. Two comments: for me 10 to 12 strawberries makes more than 1/2 cup. Should the recipe be just 1/2 cup diced strawberries? If so no need to post the estimated quantity. 2- the vailla icing directions use the words softened and in directions “melted”. I went with softened.
Carrie Tyler says
Thank you so much, Diane! I really appreciate you catching those instructions so I can fix them!!