Banana cakes can come in many forms, from the humble banana bread reworked as a cake, to lovely cakes layered with cream and sliced banana.
These little Banana Cakes are soft buttery banana sponge cake formed in mini bundt cake pans, and topped with an easy Vanilla Caramel glaze.
Baby Banana Cakes, the Origin
I decided to use my newly acquired Nordic Ware Platinum Mini Bundt Pan
. to make some banana cakes, after the discovery of several peeled bananas abandoned on my kitchen counter, courtesy of my 5 year old. I've made a few different versions of banana bread in the past, but didn't have a cake recipe handy. I found a banana cupcake recipe from the Cooking Light website to use as a rough template for my banana bundt cake batter.
I "spongified" the recipe, by swapping out the yogurt in the original in favor of milk. Now that the batter was going to be less acidic and I wasn't looking for a dense cake, I opted to change the baking soda for powder, to ensure I had enough lift. I also upped the butter to keep the airier cake moist & changed out the nutmeg for cinnamon, just because I prefer it.
The glaze was just something I whipped up on the fly, to compliment the little banana cakes.
Baby Banana Cakes, the Results
The swaps teamed with giving the batter a little extra whipping before pouring into the mini-bundt pans resulted in a nice buttery banana sponge cake.
The mini cakes had a soft tender texture, and plenty of spring back, without being chewy. They did seem to need a little more sweetness, which was promptly supplied with the glaze. After cooling a little, the glaze poured on smoothly, soaking in just a little and not hardening too much.
I was a little too happy with the end result, and it will probably be showing on my scale :/
For more delicious banana desserts try my recipe for Starbucks banana bread , my easy Banana Oatmeal Cookies recipe or Banana Pudding Poke Cake recipe.
Baby Banana Bundt Cakes with Vanilla Caramel Glaze
Ingredients
Cake
- ¼ pound butter softened
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¼ teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1 medium banana
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 cup flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
Glaze
- 2 tbs butter
- ⅔ cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 tbs milk
- pinch of Kosher salt
Instructions
Cake
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease & flour the mini-bundt pan.*
- Cream together the butter sugar and salt.
- Mash banana well and beat with eggs, add to butter mixture along with the vanilla and milk. Beat well.
- Stir the baking powder and cinnamon into the flour, to ensure even distribution, then add the the mixing bowl.
- Beat until the mixture is creamy in consistency. It will be a little thicker than standard cake batter, but smooth & silky.
- Dollop into the mini bundt pans. Fill ¾ full and smooth tops with back of a spoon.
- Bake for 20-24 minutes. Toothpick will pull out clean and tops will be light golden brown. (Mine were just right at 22 minutes.)
Glaze
- Add the ingredients to a small non-stick skillet over med-high heat. (Crumbing the brown sugar helps it dissolve quickly.)
- Keep stirring, the sugar will melt quick. The glaze will start to bubble up. Remove from burner once it has thickened a little, but still seems a little thin to use (it will thicken as it cools).
- Allow it to cool a couple minutes before glazing the banana cakes. It should be thick enough to slowly roll down sides of cake, but not stiff. (if it hardens you over cooked to candy stage, start over).
Notes
* Time quoted does not include making glaze, which should only take a couple minutes.
Nutrition
Mae says
I over cook the caramel...how can I dilute it back..further cooking will harden further
Robin Gagnon says
Honestly, I would just start over on the glaze.
Jana Johnsen says
Made these Gluten Free today - AMAZING!!!!
brandy says
Just got these babies in the oven .. the batter was heavenly. It only made 3 mini bunts (pampered chef stone pan) so, I'll need to double up next time. Thanks!!
Jody says
I have a 12 cup mini bundt pan - they don't appear as deep as your six cup mini bundt pan. Is that what your recipe makes? 6?
Robin Gagnon says
For my mini-bundt it makes 6. If you have the 12, reduce bake time. It would definitely make 12 of those tiny bundts (maybe a few more).
Nancy says
I have the Nordic mini bundt pans...I baked up 4 of these. I send baked good to deployed Soldiers in our Armed Services 2x a month. I was dying to try this recipe! So yummy & very adaptable! I have a food saver that I use on all my goodies. Would you recommend food saving these 1st & then freezing before sending? I also usually package up the glaze in it's own pouch to let them drizzle it over after opening. Any tips you can share on wrapping & sending along to the troops would be greatly appreciated! Keep baking it forward, one Bundt at a time!
Robin Gagnon says
Thanks for supporting our troops. My late husband was a veteran.
As far as the packaging, it seems I should be asking you. You seem to have it down pretty darn good 🙂
pravina says
Such a great recipe, but does the oven still stays at 350 degrees when u put the bundt pan in to bake?
Robin Gagnon says
Yes. In general, whatever temp oven is preheated to is what you bake.
Tawra says
Could I make one regular sized bundt cake with this recipe instead?
Robin Gagnon says
Yes, but adjust baking time of course. It will take considerably longer.
Martha Kreider says
Do you let the cakes cool, remove from the pan, and then aaply the glaze?
Robin Gagnon says
Yes, the little bundts should cool first. I allow to sit until pan is cool enough to handle then flip them onto a cooling rack.
Martha Kreider says
Thanks for your response regarding the cooling.
Sunshine baker says
I made these tonight. The muffins turned out fine. Something went wrong with the glaze though. It was like the sugar didn’t dissolve. It was crunchy. Did I overcook it?
Robin Gagnon says
Stove burner temps often vary. That may have effected the melting of the brown sugar.
Vicki says
If you wanted to freeze these , would you freeze them glazed or unglazed ?
Robin Gagnon says
I would do that without the glaze.