My Best Banana Bundt Cake Recipe

• Nonstick Baking Spray: Nonstick baking spray is similar to nonstick cooking spray. However, it typically includes flour mixed into the fat/oil of the spray. The flour helps prevents baked goods from sticking in detailed bundt pans. I use Bak-Klene ZT All Purpose Release Spray. When developing this recipe, I found it best to avoid using a baking spray made with butter, coconut oil, or shortening—these don’t release bundt cakes as easily!
  
  
• Kosher Salt: In my cookbook, I argue that kosher salt is the best salt for baking recipes. But you can replace the kosher salt in the recipe with table salt. Just use half the amount listed in the recipe when you do!
  
  
• Brown Sugar: Brown sugar is available in two varieties: light or dark. Dark brown sugar is my personal preference; because it contains more molasses, I find it to be more flavorful. However, you can use either in my best banana bundt cake recipe without altering its flavor too much.
  
  
• Bananas: My advice is to use incredibly ripe, spotted, and almost black bananas. The spottier they are, the sweeter and more flavorful your mini banana chocolate chip muffins will be.
  
  
• Sour Cream: When testing this recipe, I found that the sour cream can be substituted with plain, unsweetened full-fat regular OR Greek yogurt. You can also use fancy creamy dairy products like crème fraîche or mascarpone instead.
  
  
• Whole Milk: I also discovered that whole milk can be substituted with 2% or skim milk. But using whole milk makes the glaze more flavorful. You can also substitute the whole milk with the plant-based milk of your choice. But note that it will make the glaze taste like the milk you choose. I recommend picking something that will complement the banana flavor well (like almond, coconut, or oat milk).

Best Recipe Tips

Equipment Tips

• The recipe for the honey glaze instructs you to use 1 ½ Tablespoons of both honey and whole milk. Most measuring spoon sets only come with four measures: ¼-teaspoon, ½-teaspoon, 1-teaspoon, and 1 Tablespoon. You can buy a 1 ½-Tablespoon measuring spoon online by itself. But no worries! If you don’t own one and/or don’t want to invest in one, 1 ½ Tablespoons is also equivalent to 4 ½ teaspoons.
  
  
• Most cake recipes instruct you to prep their baking pans first. However, it’s better to grease a bundt pan right before filling with batter. That’s because bundt pans require a LOT more grease than traditional cake pans. And all that grease has a tendency to slide down the sides of the pan and pool at the bottom. But by greasing the bundt pan immediately before filling it, you avoid that issue entirely!

Ingredient Tips

• Bananas are listed in the recipe by weight, not volume or size. Why? It’s risky not to include exact measures for banana bread. Too little banana, and your banana bread will turn out dry, flavorless, and maybe even soapy tasting. Banana’s natural acidity helps neutralize the baking soda in the recipe, so without enough fruit, the banana bread will taste like baking soda! But go the other way and use too much banana, your bread will take forever to bake or collapse in the center. For best results, first peel the bananas, then use a digital scale to weigh the naked fruit. But for those of you who insist on volume measurements, use 1 ¾ cups mashed bananas (from around 3 large bananas or 4 medium ones).
  
  
• This recipe works best if you use incredibly ripe, spotted, and almost black bananas. The unpeeled bananas should feel soft to the touch and give easily when gently pressed. That means that they’ll mash easily in the stand mixer. If the bananas feel firm, you may need to mash them before using them in the recipe. Set the bananas on a firm surface and use the twines of a fork to press down on the fruit until mashed.

Baking Tip

• The Bake Time for this recipe is listed at a range between 65 to 75 minutes. That being said, if you’re using extremely ripe bananas, you’ll likely need to bake it for 10 to 15 minutes longer than what’s listed in the recipe. The same goes for bananas that were frozen, then thawed for use in the recipe. Extremely ripe and previously frozen bananas contain more moisture and will need longer to cook in the oven.
  
  The best way to test for doneness is to use a wooden skewer and stick it in the center of the cake, between the bundt pan middle and its sides. The skewer should come out with few crumbs. If you find that the skewer is plenty wet with batter but the top of the cake looks too browned, don’t panic! Simply cover the top of the cake with a loose sheet of aluminum foil. This will help prevent the top of the cake from browning further.