Best Strawberry Banana Cake Recipe

This Strawberry Banana cake is a moist and delicious way to ring in any special occasion. Grab those fresh strawberries and bananas for this treat with a decadent cream cheese icing.

Our local high school FFA chapter sells strawberries every spring so I had a fridge full of fresh strawberries and this cake was a perfect match for them! I also had one lone banana left – just waiting to be used!

What’s in Strawberry Banana Cake? 

Strawberry Banana Cake goes together quickly and is easy to make! I’m no expert baker but there’s no cake mix here. If I can make this from scratch cake – so can you! Here’s what you’ll need:

• all purpose flour
• baking soda
• baking powder
• cinnamon
• salt
• 1 large banana
• diced strawberries (about 10-12 medium berries)
• lemon juice
• brown sugar
• white sugar
• buttermilk – I used the powdered kind mixed with water – worked fine!
• softened butter
• egg
• vanilla – I prefer using vanilla over vanilla extract – but use what you have
• OPTIONAL: walnuts or pecans – diced nuts added to this would be perfect! I had just run out from making my last cake so I had to leave them out.

I also made a simple cream cheese frosting for this. You could just sprinkle powdered sugar or spread whipped cream on top – but this paired really well with the cake. You’ll need:

• powdered sugar
• cream cheese
• cream
• vanilla

How ripe do my bananas and strawberries need to be?

That’s the nice thing about this cake – you’re adding sugar and mashing the bananas – so it doesn’t really matter too much if they’re perfectly ripe – or even over ripe!

I actually can’t eat a fresh banana – the texture wigs me out! But I love the flavor – so banana cake and bread are my favorite!

• Bananas – if you have an under ripe banana, you can microwave it for 15 seconds to soften it. Any ripe bananas will mash nicely with a fork.
• Strawberries – I would try and use ripe or over-ripe strawberries for this recipe. Don’t dice the berries too finely because the bites of berry are so tasty as you’re eating this cake! Save some ripe strawberry slices for the top of the cake as well.

How to Make Banana Strawberry Cake 

I recently made a banana cake in my air fryer so I knew I could add strawberries for a delicious light cake recipe!

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line an 8×8” baking dish with parchment paper or spray with non-stick cooking spray
  • You’ll see mine is in a rectangle – it was 7×9″ – so same size – different shape!
• In a medium bowl, add mashed bananas and lemon juice
• Dice strawberries and add to bowl with bananas – no need to stir – but you’ll add them together.
• In a large bowl, beat together butter, brown and white sugar until combined with hand mixer on medium speed
  • You can try and whisk it but I really recommend using at least a hand mixer – you need to get the air whipped in and it’s hard to do that by hand
  • You can also use a stand mixer for this recipe – I just don’t usually pull that out for a quick cake since the hand mixer is easier to maneuver and clean.
• Add in egg and vanilla and mix ingredients on high until light & fluffy (almost the texture of frosting). Set aside.
• In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt)
• Alternate adding flour mixture and buttermilk to wet ingredients (sugar/egg batter) in mixing bowl. Mix on medium setting just until combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl as it’s mixing to get all the flour into the batter.
• Fold in bananas and strawberries with a wooden spoon or spatula to cake batter – you want to keep the chunks in tact.
• Pour batter into parchment-lined baking dish
• Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. (do not overbake – check at 35 min)
• Remove from oven. For best results, cover with plastic wrap and place pan in freezer for 45 minutes. This helps keep the cake extra moist!
  • You can also remove from pan and cool on a wire rack if you’d like.
• Frost with icing once cooled.

How can I make a quick and easy cream cheese icing? 

I really haven’t made frosting that many times – but I knew this cake needed a little something. This is the perfect recipe for a small amount of icing for this size cake as well – so you won’t have a bunch of excess! Here’s how to make it:

• In a medium bowl, using a hand mixer, beat together powdered sugar & cream cheese
• Add heavy cream and vanilla
• Mix until creamy and smooth
• Once your cake is cooled, frost!

Can I Use Frozen Strawberries? 

You can use frozen strawberries but they have a lot more liquid to them. I have not tried it – but I know you can substitute them. That said, I would reduce the amount of buttermilk to 1/3 cup so the batter doesn’t get too runny.

You could also swap out strawberries for raspberries or blueberries in this cake – fresh or frozen. Those frozen berries have less water and would taste delicious!

Tips for Making a Strawberry and Banana Cake

Making cake is pretty easy and I like that this cake is a small cake – so it’s great for 2-3 people to polish off in a week! 😉

• Be sure to cream the softened butter and sugar together and really whip that air into the mixture. That helps make your cake moist and is a very important first step!
• You can use milk or half and half if you don’t have buttermilk but the buttermilk has some acidity that mixes with the ingredients to make it a more moist cake.
• Don’t overbake! I mention in the instructions to check it a few minutes early. You can always add cook time – but you can’t unbake a cake!
• Line your pan with parchment paper so it’s easier to remove from the dish. This is for presentation but also helps cool the cake more quickly. I used four sheets of folded parchment for this cake. That way I could pick it up and it slipped right out of the baking dish onto a cooling rack!

Can I do a layer cake with this recipe?

Yes! This makes enough for a SMALL strawberry banana layer cake – I used two 7″ round cake pans for the air fryer banana cake recipe and it worked perfectly for this amount of batter.

Delicious Strawberry Recipes

• Strawberriest Strawberry Brownies
• Strawberry Zucchini Bread
• Strawberry Salad with Pork Loin

More Banana Recipes

• Air Fryer Banana Cake
• Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
• Starbucks Banana Bread