Bananas Foster Layer Cake

If I asked you what your favorite dessert is, could you choose just one? It would probably be tough. But if you really had to choose your last-dessert-on-earth, desert-island, ride-or-die dessert, what would it be? For me, the answer is easy – Bananas Foster. There is nothing better than warm banana slices swimming in that buttery, boozy sauce. And when you put it over vanilla ice cream? Forget it. And there’s only one way that Bananas Foster could be any more perfect than it already is, and that’s if someone made it into a cake. So I did! This Bananas Foster Layer Cake is my ultimate dream dessert.

How to make this Bananas Foster Layer Cake

It may look complicated to make, but I promise this is actually one of the easier cakes. The cake itself is straightforward and delicious and pretty tough to mess up. Think of this Bananas Foster Layer Cake cake as a softer, more delicate banana bread. First, you’ll cream the wet ingredients together – butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla. The dry ingredients are equally standard – flour, baking soda and salt.

All that’s left to add are the bananas and sour cream. The addition of sour cream makes this cake moist and not overly sweet. Because it has enough butter, it doesn’t need the extra fat from the sour cream so you can get away with using a light version of sour cream if you want. I usually have light sour cream on hand, so that’s what I use. The Big Guy says the cake is so good that it doesn’t even need frosting. But you guys? It sooo does.

How to make the frosting

The frosting on this cake is what makes it a show stopper. You’ll be making a basic, yet insanely delicious, buttercream and combining it with Foster sauce that comes together quickly on the stove. The buttercream is simply butter and confectioner’s sugar. The Foster sauce is an intoxicating mixture of butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and dark rum. Each of these components alone are straight up heavenly, and when you put them together you may just want to dive into the bowl headfirst.

After you add the foster sauce to the buttercream, you will have enough left over to do the drizzle you see in the photos. I was super nervous to do the drizzle for the first time, but it’s easier than you think. You want the consistency of the cooled foster sauce to be that of maple syrup. If the sauce is too warm, allow it to cool. If it’s too cool, pop it in the microwave for 10 second intervals until it reaches the right consistency. Then just go for it, and I know you’ll get that perfect drizzle!

You might be wondering what those pretty little pink things are on the cake. They’re edible rose petals. So fun, right? I got them in a package of about eight different varieties including jasmine and marigold. All different colors and sizes and not too expensive. I cannot wait to play around with these flowers this spring and summer, they’re so fun to decorate with.

The measurements I’m giving you are for the cake you see in these photos, which is a four-layer cake. Make it for a special occasion or for when you really want to impress someone. Half the recipe for a two-layer cake that you can whip up any old time. Because cake should always be within arms distance, right? Glad we agree. Have fun making this Bananas Foster Layer Cake, and even more fun eating it! Enjoy!

Bananas Foster Layer Cake

Moist, light banana cake smothered in a boozy fosters buttercream to combine the best of 2 desserts!

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Prep Time 45 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 45 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 12

Ingredients

  

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The Cake

• 5 cups flour
• 2.5 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar firmly packed
• 3 sticks + 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter room temperature
• 5 eggs
• 3 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 3 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 4 cups mashed ripe bananas about 7-8 medium sized
• 2 cups sour cream

The Fosters Buttercream Frosting

• 24 oz. confectioners sugar
• 3 sticks salted butter room temperature
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 2 Tbsp. dark rum
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 pinch salt

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare four 8-inch round cake pans: using parchment paper, trace the circle of the cake pan and cut out four parchment circles. Spray the bottom of the cake pans with nonstick cooking spray, then lay one parchment circle down in each pan. Spray the parchment again with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, using a stand or electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Beat in the vanilla.
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.
• Using a low speed on the mixer, add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and beat until just combined. Then add the bananas and sour cream and stir until just combined.
• Measure out 3 cups of batter for each of the 4 cake pans. Pour the batter into the pans and give them a little shimmy to level out the batter. Bake for 55-60 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
• While the cake is cooling, make the frosting: beat the confectioners sugar and salted butter together in a large bowl until creamy. Place the remaining ingredients in a small saucepan over low heat, and allow to melt together until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Pour 1/2 to 3/4 of the foster sauce into the buttercream and beat until combined. The consistency should be spreadable. Reserve the remaining foster sauce to drizzle over the top.

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