Amazing Banana Cake Recipes

Everybody has a recipe for banana cake, right? And most of them are actually pretty good. But for the Epicurious test kitchen team, good was not good enough. We wanted great banana cake, the won't-last-til-morning, bake-for-any-and-every-occasion kind. We wanted a moist, tender loaf chock full of pure banana flavor with a gentle sweetness. We began our quest for the ultimate batch by baking five of the highest-rated banana cakes on our site and analyzing what we liked (and didn't like) about each one.

ADD EXTRA DAIRY FOR FLAVOR AND MOISTNESS

Our overall taste test winner was this recipe for banana cake, and we used it as a jumping-off point for our ultimate version. Some banana cake recipes include various forms of dairy, which we think improves both the flavor and texture of the loaf.

RIPEN BANANAS IN MINUTES

Obviously, perfectly overripe bananas are essential to the success of this quick cake. Ideally the bananas should have yellow skins (no green!) with an even smattering of brown freckles. But we know that the urge for a fresh loaf of banana cake can be overwhelming at times, and you just can't wait a day or two for the bananas to ripen on their own.

GO DARK WITH THE SUGAR

Ripe bananas have a wonderful natural sweetness, but a little extra sugar rounds out the overall flavor of the banana cake. Most recipes use regular granulated sugar, but we loved the richness the dark brown sugar brings to this recipe, so we incorporated it into ours, too.

TIR IN CRUNCHY NUTS (BUT SKIP THE CHOCOLATE)

We loved the crunch that walnuts gave this banana cake, so we made sure to add a hefty helping to our batch. When it came to chocolate, though, it was a tougher call. Inspired by this version with chopped dark chocolate, we tested our base recipe with just walnuts and with both walnuts and chocolate. Twice. The entire Epicurious staff was pretty evenly split into pro- and anti-chocolate camps. But ultimately, the food department felt that the chocolate detracted from the essence of unadulterated banana, while the walnuts added a toasty nuttiness and crunch that we found essential to that banana cake flavor.

So, walnuts were in, and chocolate was out. For you chocolate lovers out there: If you must add chocolate, fold in 1/2 cup chopped chocolate into the batter along with the walnuts. Then call us. We want a slice.