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Banana Bread Snack Cake

Banana bread snack cake with a perfectly moist, dense crumb and a brown butter cream cheese-style frosting. Baked in an 8x8 pan for easy banana bar cake slices with golden edges.
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Servings: 16 servings
Course: Dessert, Snack
Cuisine: American
Calories: 310
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Banana bread cake
  • 2 ripe bananas Mashed until smooth.
  • 0.5 cup butter Melted.
  • 0.75 cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 0.5 tsp baking soda
  • 0.5 tsp cinnamon
  • 0.25 tsp salt
Brown butter frosting
  • 0.25 cup butter Browned.
  • 1.5 cup powdered sugar
  • 2 tbsp heavy cream
  • 0.5 tsp vanilla extract

Equipment

  • 1 sheet pan
  • 1 saucepan

Method
 

Bake the banana snack cake
  1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease an 8x8 square pan, so the batter releases cleanly after baking.
  2. Whisk melted butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla into mashed bananas until smooth, with no streaks of egg or sugar.
  3. Fold in all-purpose flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt until just combined, stopping as soon as no dry pockets remain.
  4. Pour batter into the prepared 8x8 pan and bake for 25–30 minutes at 350°F until golden and a toothpick comes out clean.
Brown butter frosting and assemble
  1. Brown the butter in a saucepan until golden and nutty, then cool 5 minutes to avoid melting the frosting.
  2. Whisk the cooled browned butter with powdered sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla until smooth and spreadable.
  3. Frost the completely cooled cake, then slice into squares to serve.

Notes

For a denser crumb, mix the batter only until the flour disappears, then bake right away. Store frosted squares covered in the fridge up to 4 days; freeze unfrosted cake slices up to 2 months (thaw and frost after thawing). For a lower-sugar option, replace half the sugar with an equal-measure sugar substitute blend designed for baking.