This sour cream banana pound cake is moist, rich, dense, and packed with delicious ripe banana flavor. Topped with a simple brown sugar glaze and walnuts, every bite is as incredible as the last.
Recipe: $7.57 | Per Serving: $0.63 | Servings: 12
We love banana bread and cakes, so making this sour cream banana pound cake has been a great way to use up ripe bananas without resorting to typical banana bread recipes. It's become one of my favorite ripe banana recipes.
The cake is a masterpiece, featuring a blend of mashed bananas, vanilla, and warm cinnamon, creating a symphony of flavors.
The crowning glory is the irresistible Brown Sugar Glaze, adding a layer of indulgence with its caramel-like sweetness and nutty brown sugar.
My daughter claims it's her new favorite dessert, and together, we've devoured most of this bundt cake. Can you blame us? It's soooo good!
For a layered banana cake recipe, try my Southern Banana Pudding Cake. And for more bundt cake ideas, check out our Peaches and Cream Bundt Cake and Raspberry Lemon Bundt Cake.
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🍯 Why This Recipe Works
- It tastes great for DAYS. This banana bundt cake is rich, buttery in texture and so moist that even days later it still tastes fresh and incredible. Kind of like our Super Moist Banana Bread with Sour Cream.
- It's a good way to use up bananas. You can either use up bananas by making banana bread, or you can turn them into a cake. Everyone should eat cake.
- It's really easy to make. Despite the long baking time, this cake is very easy to make and assemble, which is just one of the many reasons why it makes a repeat visit to our home.
🥘 Ingredients
Ingredient Notes:
Granulated sugar- You will need some granulated sugar to make this cake sweet and tender.
Ripe bananas- You will need some ripe spotted bananas to make this cake well flavored and sweeter. If you still have bananas on hand, try our Pancake Mix Banana Bread, Banana Oreo Milkshake, and One Bowl Banana Bread.
Leavening agents- You will need both baking soda and baking powder to help this cake puff up and rise as it bakes, creating a nice crumb consistency.
Sour cream- Adding sour cream will help to make the cake taste smooth like velvet as it bakes. It's such a game changer!
Banana Cake Glaze- We make the most fabulous glaze for this cake using basics like butter, brown sugar, milk, vanilla, and powdered sugar.
Walnuts- This is an optional topping, and if you choose to add walnuts, make sure to do it quickly as the icing will set within just a few short moments.
For specific ingredients and measurements, please see the recipe card below.
🔪 Instructions for Sour Cream Banana Pound Cake
Banana Pound Cake
Step 1: Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.
Step 2: Add your dry ingredients to a large mixing bowl (Image 1).
Step 3: Whisk together to combine (Image 2). Set aside.
Step 4: Add your butter and sugar to a large mixing bowl (Image 3). An extra-large mixing bowl is preferred.
Step 5: Cream them together until light and fluffy (Image 4).
Step 6: Add in the eggs, one at a time (Image 5).
Step 7: Beat well after each addition (Image 6).
Step 8: Add in the mashed bananas and the vanilla (Image 7).
Step 9: Stir again (Image 8). Add in half of the sour cream into the batter and mix.
Step 10: Add in half of the flour mixture and mix again (Images 9&10).
Step 11: Stir in the last of the sour cream (Images 11&12).
Step 12: Mix in the last of the flour mixture, stirring until combined. Set aside.
Step 13: Grease and flour a bundt pan.
Step 14: Pour the mixture into your prepared bundt pan (Image 13).
Step 15: Bake for 75 minutes to 85 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted and come out clean (Image 14).
Step 16: Let cake cool 10 minutes in the pan before flipping it onto a wire rack and cooling it completely. Once cooled, top with glaze.
Brown Sugar Frosting
Step 17: Add butter to a saucepan (Image 15).
Step 18: Melt over medium-low heat (Image 16).
Step 19: Add in the brown sugar. Stir until the brown sugar is dissolved (about 3-5 minutes) (Image 17).
Step 20: Remove the pot from the heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Whisk in the vanilla and milk (Image 18).
Step 21: Whisk until smooth and combined (Image 19).
Step 22: Immediately pour the mixture into a mixing bowl. Add in the powdered sugar (Image 20).
Step 23: Beat with an electric mixer until smooth (Image 21).
Step 24: Pour over the cake quickly as it will set fast and top with walnuts if desired (Image 22).
Step 25: Allow about 10-15 minutes to set before slicing and serving.
🍴 Recipe Tips
- Perfect Texture Preparation- To achieve the ideal texture in this sour cream banana pound cake recipe, it's essential to beat the eggs one at a time. This process helps incorporate air into the batter, resulting in a fluffy texture upon baking.
- Optional Nutty Addition- For added flavor and texture, consider incorporating chopped walnuts into the batter. However, it's advisable not to exceed ⅓ cup to prevent overcrowding the bundt pan.
- No Overflow Concerns- When pouring the batter into the cake pan, you'll notice it almost reaches the top. Due to the lower cooking temperature, there's no need to worry about the cake rising excessively and overflowing during baking.
💭 Recipe FAQs
If you'd like to swap out the sour cream in this banana bread bundt cake you can use plain unflavored Greek yogurt or even Chobani banana flavored yogurt for a stronger banana flavor.
This cake is good for up to a week if covered properly and stored at room temperature. Of course, if you like it as much as we do it's unlikely to survive the weekend.
Yes, this cake will freeze very well if left unglazed before freezing. Simply let the cake cool completely and then wrap well in plastic wrap and store in a container (if you have one large enough). Then thaw before glazing and serving. Can be frozen for up to 2 months.
❤️ More Delicious Cake Recipes
If you tried this Sour Cream Banana Pound Cake, please leave a ⭐️ star rating and share your feedback in the 📝 comments section below. I would truly appreciate it!
📖 Recipe
Sour Cream Banana Pound Cake
Ingredients
Banana Pound Cake
- 1 cup butter, softened ($1.98)
- 3 cups granulated sugar ($1.08)
- 6 large eggs ($0.90)
- 2 cup banana, mashed (about 4) ($1.00)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract ($0.06)
- 3 cups all purpose flour ($0.39)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda ($0.01)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder ($0.05)
- 1 teaspoon salt ($0.01)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon ($0.08)
- 1 cup sour cream ($1.00)
Brown Sugar Glaze
- ¼ cup butter ($0.50)
- ½ cup brown sugar, packed ($0.22)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract ($0.01)
- 2 Tablespoons milk ($0.01)
- ¾ cup powdered sugar ($0.27)
- walnuts for garnish *optional
Instructions
How to make banana pound cake
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Grease and flour bundt pan. Set aside.
- Cream butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until fluffy and light.
- Add in the eggs 1 at time, beating after each.
- Stir in the mashed bananas and vanilla.
- In another bowl, combine dry ingredients.
- Add the dry ingredients to the bowl of wet alternatingly with sour cream.
- Pour the batter into the prepared bundt pan.
- Bake for 75-85 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted and come out clean.
- Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes before flipping onto a wire cooling rack to finish cooling completely.
How to make brown sugar glaze
- Melt the butter in a saucepan and add in the brown sugar. Stir until the brown sugar is dissolved (about 3-5 minutes).
- Remove the pot from the heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
- Whisk in the vanilla and milk.
- Pour the mixture into a mixing bowl and beat in the powdered sugar with an electric mixer until smooth.
- Pour over the cake quickly as it will set fast and top with walnuts if desired.
- Allow about 10-15 minutes to set before slicing and serving.
Elizabeth Durham says
Ugh I really had high hopes for this one. Idk if I just have a smaller than average Bundt pan, but the batter reached the almost top like your blog post states but mine did overflow while baking 🙁 I’m glad I went with my gut and placed a sheet pan under it. Or that would’ve been such a mess. I’m pretty sure the Bundt pan I have is a 6 cup size like the one you shared a listing of. Don’t know what went wrong.
Nicole Durham says
Oh no, I’m so sorry that happened! I totally understand your frustration—thank goodness you trusted your gut and used a sheet pan underneath. After seeing your comment, I looked into it and discovered that the original Amazon listing I linked to (which was a 12-cup bundt pan when I published this recipe 4 years ago) had since been swapped out for a 6-cup version without notice. 😣
Thanks to your detailed comment, I was able to track down the issue and have now updated all my bundt pan links to correctly reflect the 12-cup size. I’ve also added a clear note to the recipe card so it won’t catch anyone else off guard.
I truly appreciate you taking the time to share your experience, it helped me fix something I wouldn’t have caught otherwise. 💛
Melissa Huffman says
Have you made this in a normal cake pan? Any recommendations for temp or time for maybe 1-2 9x9 round pans? I don't have a bunt pant
Nicole says
I have not made it in round cake pans yet so I'm not 100% sure on the bake times but I would estimate that (2) 9x9 cake pans or (3) 8x8 cake pans would take 30-40 minutes to bake and that a large 9x13 baking dish may take closer to an hour. The baking temperature shouldn't change, its kept low heat so that the cake doesn't rise too high and stays dense and moist like banana bread. If you try any of these baking sizes, let me know how it goes!