Looking to learn how to make the best homemade Banoffee Cake?
Our decadent layered Banoffee Cake recipe features moist banana walnut layers filled with caramel sauce, cream cheese frosting and freshly sliced bananas.
Our eye-catching Banoffee Cake is easy to make at home. It’s the perfect celebratory dessert to serve for birthday parties, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Christmas.
The best Banoffee Cake recipe features flavourful ingredients like Bailey’s Irish Cream, buttermilk, ripe banana, walnuts, vanilla extract and cream cheese.
Save this story to Pinterest!
What Is Banoffee Cake?
The term Banoffee refers to a classic English dessert pie made from bananas, whipped cream and thick caramel sauce. The term is a combination of its main ingredients: banana + toffee caramel.
Credit for the invention of Banoffee Pie is claimed by Nigel Mackenzie and Ian Dowding, the owner and chef of The Hungry Monk Restaurant in East Sussex, England.
They claim to have developed the dessert in 1971 by amending an unreliable American recipe for Blum’s Coffee Toffee Pie with a soft toffee made by boiling an unopened can of condensed milk for several hours.
After making various recipe edits including the addition of apple and mandarin orange, Mackenzie suggested banana and Dowding later said that “straight away we knew we had got it right”. Mackenzie naming the dessert “Banoffee Pie”, and the dish proved so popular with locals that they could never take it off their menu. And who would want to? Drool!
We’ve taken traditional Banoffee ingredients and transformed the iconic British pie into a decadent multi-layered cake featuring walnuts, banana, caramel and cream cheese frosting.
My Family Loves Homemade Banoffee Cake
My family loves baking.
We’ve mastered the art of sourdough bread, moist muffins, pretty pancakes, crunchy cookies, homemade pies and celebratory cakes.
When I was little my mom would dedicate hours to decorating specialty cakes for our birthdays. She’d visit the local bake shop to purchase cake pans in the shape of our favourite heroes of the moment, from My Little Pony to Cookie Monster.
She’d decorate our birthday cakes each year using specialty piping bags. Famously one year when I was a toddler, she was piping bright red fur onto a chocolate cake shaped like Elmo. Halfway through icing the cake she went to answer the phone and when she returned the icing had moved from the cakes surface to a joyous smear across my giggling face.
My love for eating cake into adulthood has been an honest and enthusiastic evolution.
My family love combining toasted nuts and rips bananas in our favourite muffin recipes and banana bread. So it’s no wonder this Banoffee Cake recipe is one of our favourites to bake for a special occasion.
Banoffee Cake Health Benefits
Our homemade Banoffee Cake recipe might be decadent but it also features a few healthy ingredients.
Containing starch and fibre, bananas are an excellent superfood for digestive health. They are a good source of heart-healthy potassium, as well as amino acids and vitamin B6, which help keep your brain healthy.
Eggs contain two vital nutrients that are not present in many foods: iodine and vitamin D. Eggs are also rich in tissue-building protein and vitamin B12, which helps your body manufacture blood cells.
Consuming dairy products (such as milk and cheese) provides health benefits — especially improved bone health. Dairy foods provide nutrients that are vital for health and maintenance of your body. These nutrients include calcium, potassium, vitamin D, and protein.
Walnuts offer heart-friendly fats, immune-boosting copper, and manganese, which helps keep your brain and nerves healthy.
Whole wheat flour is rich in vitamins B-1, B-3, and B-5, along with riboflavin and folate. It also has more iron, calcium, protein, and other nutrients than white flour.
Layered Banoffee Cake Baking Tips
If it’s your first time baking Banoffee Cake at home be sure to review our detailed step-by-step recipe below. Here are some helpful tips and tricks to get you started.
- We suggest using a high quality rubber spatula when scraping cake batter into baking tins.
- You’ll save yourself time and energy by using a stand mixer to beat the cake batter and whip the cream cheese frosting. You can also use a handheld egg beater or whisk as an alternative.
- We’ve prepared this recipe using round cake pans but you could also use square cake pans.
- Use an offset icing spatula to spread the caramel sauce and cream cheese icing evenly across the cake.
- We love using this cake turntable when icing round cakes so they are perfectly smooth.
- If you are going to have leftovers store the cake in the fridge under a cake dome to keep it fresh.
- Making homemade caramel sauce is rather temperamental so if it’s your first time attempting it in the kitchen watch this video for the best results.
- We suggest using overripe (black) bananas for the cake layers and perfectly ripe (yellow) bananas for the filling and topping.
- We’ve used walnuts in the sponge and garnish of the cake but you could substitute for pecans or hazelnuts.
What To Serve with Banoffee Cake
We suggest serving this decadent Banoffee Cake for special celebrations like birthday parties, Mother’s Day, Fathers Day, Thanksgiving or Christmas.
We also love serving a thin slice at tea time or during a coffee break. It pairs nicely with a hot pot of floral black tea or dark roast coffee.
You can also make a decadent ice cream sundae by seving a slice of Banoffee Cake with a scoop of caramel, roasted banana, maple walnut or pralines & cream. Top the sundae with sliced bananas and caramel sauce.
Essential Cake Tools & Equipment
Whether you’re a novice baker or consider yourself a pastry king or queen, it’s important to outfit your kitchen with quality tools and equipment.
We’ve created a list of our favourite baking gadgets on Amazon to help you make this impressive Banoffee Cake at home!
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
- French Knife
- Round Cake Pans
- Stand Mixer
- Cooling Rack
- Spatula
- Skillet
- Cake Turntable
- Offset Icing Knife
- Cake Dome
Do You Love Baking with Bananas?
We love baking with bananas! Once you’ve enjoyed our decadent layered Banoffee Cake try making one of these other popular and yummy banana recipes.
- Moist Buttermilk Banana Muffins with Chocolate Chips
- Ginger Spiced Banana Pear Muffins
- Banana Pumpkin Muffins
- Banana Rhubarb Muffins
- Banana Prune Muffins
- Banana Oat Flour Pancakes
- Sticky Toffee Banana and Date Muffins
- Banana Carrot Muffins
- Banana Oat Chocolate Chip Muffins
- High Fiber Blueberry Banana Muffins
- Best Ever Banana Muffins
Storing Cake
If you have leftover Banoffee Cake cover it with a plastic or glass cake dome then store in the fridge for 2-3 days.
You can also freeze leftover cake for up to a month. Be sure to slice the cake before storing it in the freezer so you can easily thaw slices whenever you have a craving for a sweet treat!
You May Also Enjoy Reading…
- Healthy Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies Recipe
- Gevulde Speculaas: Dutch Cherry Almond Filled Spiced Cookies
- Kardemummabullar Swedish Cardamom Buns Recipe
- Easy Fresh Strawberry Cream Cheese Muffins Recipe
- Healthy Homemade Sweet Potato Muffin Recipe
- Jordgubbstårta Recipe: Gluten Free Swedish Strawberry Meringue Cake
- Rhubarb Strawberry Dutch Baby German Pancakes
- Best Cheese and Onion Muffins Recipe
- Best Oat Flour Cookies with Chocolate Chips
- Best Gluten Free Pie: Creamy Lemon Angel Pie Recipe
- Best Healthy Kiwi Muffins Recipe
- Healthy Bran Muffins with Applesauce Recipe
- Healthy Ginger Spiced Banana Pear Muffins Recipe
- Turmeric Pumpkin Spice Indian Cake Recipe
- Chewy Easter Toffee Cadbury Mini Egg Cookie Bars
- Best Easy Healthy Vegan & Vegetarian Muffins
- Best Easy Healthy Muffins For Kids Recipes
- Easy Fresh Strawberry Cream Cheese Muffins Recipe
Best Banoffee Cake Video
Caramel Baileys Banana Banoffee Cake
Equipment
- oven
- Round Cake Pans
- Stand Mixer
- spatula
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- Offset Icing Knife
- Icing Comb
- French knife
Ingredients
Banoffee Cake
- 4 Large Eggs
- 3/4 cup Buttermilk
- 1/4 cup Baileys Irish Cream
- 3/4 cup Canola Oil
- 1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1.5 cups Ripe Bananas mashed
- 1 cup White Sugar
- 2 3/4 cups All Purpose Flour
- 2 tsp Baking Soda
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 1 cup Roasted Walnuts chopped
Caramel Toffee Sauce
- 1 cup White Sugar
- 1/4 cup Water
- 1/4 cup Butter
- 1/2 cup Whipping Cream
- Pinch Salt
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
Cream Cheese Icing
- 2 cups Unsalted Butter softened
- 450 g Cream Cheese softened
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 3 cups Powdered Sugar
Decoration
- 4 Ripe Bananas thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup Roasted Walnuts chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Line three, 8-inch round cake pans with parchment paper; or use two, 9-inch cake pans. Spray the sides with a baking spray.
Banana Walnut Cake
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, buttermilk, Baileys Irish Cream, oil, vanilla, mashed ripe bananas and sugar. Mix the ingredients together on medium-high speed for 2-3 minutes, until the eggs are well beaten.
- In a separate bowl, combine all the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Sift the dry ingredients into the cake batter, then mix for about 1 minute on slow speed until the flour is well incorporated. Fold in the chopped walnuts.
- Divide the prepared cake batter between the prepared pans. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 25 minutes (30 minutes for 9-inch), or until the cakes are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow the cake layers to cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then transfer onto a wire rack to cool completely. Once the layers are completely cooled, use a serrated knife to level off the tops.
Caramel Toffee Sauce
- In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar and water. Cook the sugar over medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, until the sugar caramelizes into a rich, amber color. Do not stir the syrup while cooking, as this will cause crystals to form on the sides of the pan. Once the syrup caramelizes, add the butter and whisk until melted. Add the heavy cream and mix again; the sauce will foam and froth. Remove the sauce from heat and add the salt and vanilla extract. Allow the caramel to cool and thicken for 2-3 hours.
Cream Cheese Icing
- Soften the cream cheese and butter at room temperature. Place the butter into a stand mixer bowl and use a whisk attachment to whip the butter. Whisk on high speed for about 5 to 6 minutes, scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl. Add the softened cream cheese next and whisk again for 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the mixing bowl often, until the mixture is uniform and smooth.
- Add the vanilla and powdered sugar. Whisk on low speed first until the sugar is incorporated, then turn the speed up and whisk on high for 2 to 3 minutes, until the icing is light and fluffy.
Layered Banoffee Cake Assembly
- Assemble the cake only once the cake layers have cooled completely. Spread a generous about of caramel sauce onto each cake layer with an offset icing knife. Follow the caramel sauce with a generous amount of cream cheese frosting. Add a layer of sliced banana on top of the cream cheese frosting. For the the last layer, spread the top with caramel sauce, then invert onto the cake. This way, the caramel is sealed inside.
- Frost the outside of the cake with a thin, crumb-coat layer of frosting, then refrigerate for 15 to 20 minutes to chill. Then frost the outside of the cake with a generous layer of frosting, using a decorative icing comb to smooth the sides. Garnish the cake with more bananas, caramel sauce and chopped walnuts. Refrigerate the cake for at least an hour before serving; the cake will be very soft and harder to cut if not refrigerated.
Nutrition
Some of the links in this story use affiliate links. This means that if you make a purchase through our site, dobbernationLOVES will earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Your support helps us to produce comprehensive content.
Save this story to Pinterest!
