You are going to love this southern banana pudding cake. Made from a doctored-up boxed cake mix and filled with banana pudding before being covered in a homemade whipped cream cheese frosting.
Recipe: $9.95 | Per Serving: $0.62 | Servings: 16
If you're looking for the ultimate banana pudding cake recipe, this one is it. Made with minimal ingredients and effort, this cake looks almost too good to eat!
Make a fancy cake for under $10 with this great recipe! This easy banana pudding cake is one of our favorites, and it's not hard to see why. Packed with so much flavor in every bite, this is a perfect cake for any occasion.
We love banana cakes like this Sour Cream Banana Pound Cake, but sometimes boxed cake mixes are ideal time savers! We use boxed cake mixes in a lot of our favorite cake recipes like Tres Leches Layered Cake and our Easy Rainbow Unicorn Cake Recipe.
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🍯 Why This Recipe Works
- Minimal ingredients. From start to finish, you'll need less than a dozen ingredients to make this cake, including the frosting and the filling inside. That makes this boxed cake mix recipe almost as easy as our Patriotic Fireworks Bundt Cake.
- Perfect for any occasion. This cake can be great for summer, spring, and everything in between, like forest and monkey theme birthday parties or baby showers.
- It looks like more effort than it really is! It's always great when something takes minimal effort to pull together, but this recipe really takes the cake. It looks like it takes hours of manual labor, but it requires very little effort, and just a tad more patience.
🥘 Ingredients
Ingredient Notes:
Ripe Bananas- These will make the cake sweeter and have a nice banana flavor. Sliced ripe bananas as a garnish will help to accent the banana flavors within the cake. If you still have bananas leftover, make sure to check out our Eggless Banana Bread and Peanut Butter Banana Mug Cake.
Banana Flavored Instant Pudding Mix- For the cake, you only need the dry mix (unprepared). This pudding will give us a stronger banana flavor. For the filling, you will need one box of prepared pudding.
Heavy Whipping Cream- Heavy cream will make our frosting very fluffy and easy to spread.
Cream Cheese- This will give us a rich tangy frosting that pairs wonderfully with the sweet cake.
Nilla Wafer Cookies- This is optional but recommended for a nice garnish. I used my cookies as crumbs around the outside of the cake and as a topping.
For specific ingredients and measurements, please see the recipe card below.
🧾 Substitutions
Cake Mix. If desired you can swap out the yellow cake mix for any other flavor. Chocolate or White cake mix would be my go-to favorite options. We also use box cake mixes as the base in our Easter Confetti Cake and Rainbow Heart Cake.
Pudding Mix. The banana flavored pudding mix adds a lot of delicious banana flavor into the cake but you can use vanilla pudding in a pinch.
📖 Variations
Alternative Frosting Recipe:
- In one bowl mix 1 box (3.4 ounces) cheesecake flavored instant pudding with 1 cup of milk. Let sit 5 minutes to set.
- Beat 1 quart of heavy cream until stiff peaks in a large bowl and then add in the pudding mix and beat again until combined.
- This frosting is pipeable and will remain stable/shape holding but will still need to be kept in the fridge for food safety reasons. (Any flavor instant pudding will work, but the white ones will show food coloring better).
🔪 Instructions for Southern Banana Pudding Cake
Step 1: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
Step 2: Cut some parchment paper into circles that can fit at the bottom of your 8 inch cake pans. Spray cake pans with non-stick cooking spray and lay the parchment circles inside. Spray again with cooking spray and set aside.
Step 3: In a large mixing bowl, blend the bananas with an electric mixer until creamy (Image 1).
Step 4: Add in the cake mix, eggs, oil, dry pudding mix, and vanilla (Images 2&3).
Step 5: Stir until well mixed (Image 4). Do not overmix.
Step 6: Divide the batter between your prepared cake pans (Image 5).
Step 7: Bake in the oven at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted into the center and come out clean (Image 6).
Step 8: Once the cakes have finished baking allow them to cool in the cake pans for about 10 minutes before flipping over onto a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.
Step 9: Allow them to cool on the racks upside down and make sure to remove any parchment paper from the bottom of the cake.
Step 10: Once the cakes are completely cooled, flip them over onto a cutting board and level the tops with a large bread knife.
Prepare the frosting
Step 11: In a large mixing bowl, add the cream cheese and powdered sugar (Image 7).
Step 12: Cream together until just combined (Image 8). Do not overmix.
Step 13: In another large mixing bowl, add cold heavy cream and vanilla (Image 9).
Step 14: Beat until stiff peaks form (Image 10).
Step 15: Add the cream cheese mixture to the whipped cream (Image 11).
Step 16: Beat again until combined (Image 12). Do not overmix.
Prepare Filling
Step 17: Make one box of banana instant pudding according to the package directions.
Assembly
Step 18: Place one topless cake layer, on a cake board or large plate in front of you and leave the other off to the side.
Step 19: Place some frosting into a pastry bag or Ziploc baggie with a corner snipped off. Make a circle around the rim of the top of the cake.
Step 20: Spoon in your cold and chilled pudding. Spread it around so that it fills the circle and is pretty even-looking.
Step 21: Stack the two cakes on top of each other by placing one on top of the pudding topped one (Image 15).
Try to get them to stand as straight as you can. If needed, place everything into the fridge to chill for one hour so it holds up better. You can also freeze the cake at this point and chill the frosting until ready to use.
Step 22: When the cakes are stacked and sturdy, pipe the white frosting around the outside where the middles are and go around the cake with a flat leveler or surface (a clean wooden ruler works okay in a pinch) (Image 16).
Angle it slightly so you're pressing into the cake while removing excess frosting. This should fill in any gaps so the cake is level on the sides.
A first layer of frosting would be called a "crumb layer," and it is meant to be thin and to hold any loose crumbs in place. Let it chill at this point before adding another thicker layer of frosting if desired.
Step 23: Frost the entire cake with a nice thick layer of white frosting so that it is about ¼ inch thick and you can't see the cake poking through (Image 17).
Go over it again with your flat leveler as much as needed to get it to look as desired. Don't forget to level out the top.
Step 24: Press broken cookie crumbs around the outside of the cake to cover the sides (Image 18).
Step 25: Top the cake with sliced bananas and whole Nilla wafer cookies just before serving.
I added some leftover salted caramel from my Salted Caramel Banana Pancakes as an additional garnish.
Slice, serve, and enjoy!
🍴 Recipe Tips
Cake Stability Tip: If your cake feels unstable, use plastic drinking straws (2-4) cut slightly shorter than the cake's height. Insert them into the center after stacking but before frosting. This provides added support, especially useful for transportation.
👩🏻🍳 Storage
Fridge. This cake will keep well for up to 3 or 4 days in the fridge. I recommend covering it in plastic wrap if you cannot keep it in a large airtight container.
Freezer. The cake or slices of cake can be frozen in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge or at room temperature before eating. Remember that the cookies will soften, and the frosting may sweat if the cake goes from the freezer to room temp.
This is normal and fine, but it may not look presentable so I don't recommend freezing a cake before showing it to guests (this is much better for leftovers where presentation doesn't matter).
💭 Recipe FAQs
Adding a box of pudding mix to a cake not only helps to strengthen the flavor but it also helps to add moisture to the cake so that it doesn't feel dry. This is thanks to the fats inside of the pudding mix.
I do not recommend keeping this cake out of the fridge for more than 1-2 hours at a time. If the weather is 80F+ one hour is recommended, whereas colder temperatures may let the cake sit out for up to 2 hours. The cream cheese frosting and filling will soften and slide off of the cake after sitting out for too long in the heat, not to mention the food safety risks from letting it sit out.
Cake sweating is a natural occurrence that happens as a result of the sugar. Sugar absorbs moisture and for a cake to go from a cold location to a warmer one (fridge to counter) or if it's placed in a humid room, you can expect some sweating/condensation. You can lightly dab at the cake with a paper towel or simply let the cake sit uncovered at room temperature for until the moisture evaporates.
❤️ More Delicious Cake Recipes
If you tried this Southern Banana Pudding Cake, please leave a ⭐️ star rating and share your feedback in the 📝 comments section below. I would truly appreciate it!
📖 Recipe
Southern Banana Pudding Cake
Equipment
Ingredients
Cake
- 4 ripe bananas ($1.00)
- 1 box (15.25oz) yellow cake mix ($1.00)
- 3 large eggs ($0.45)
- ¼ cup vegetable oil ($0.18)
- 1 box (3.4oz) banana flavored instant pudding mix ($0.83)
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract ($0.09)
Filling
- 1 box (3.4oz) banana flavored instant pudding mix ($0.83)
- 2 cups milk ($0.40)
Frosting
- 8 ounce cream cheese, softened ($1.86)
- 1 cup powdered sugar ($0.36)
- 1 pinch salt ($0.02)
- 1 ¼ cups heavy whipping cream ($2.23)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ($0.03)
Decorations
- Nilla Wafer cookies ($0.42)
- ripe bananas, sliced ($0.25)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- Cut some parchment paper into circles that can fit at the bottom of your 8 inch cake pans. Spray cake pans with non-stick cooking spray and lay the parchment circles inside. Spray again with cooking spray and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl blend the bananas with an electric mixer until creamy.
- Add in the cake mix, eggs, oil, dry pudding mix, and vanilla until well mixed. Do not overmix.
- Divide the batter between your prepared cake pans.
- Bake in the oven at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick can be inserted into the center and come out clean.
- Once the cakes have finished baking allow them to cool in the cake pans for about 10 minutes before flipping over onto a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.
- Allow them to cool on the racks upside down and make sure to remove any parchment paper from the bottom of the cake.
- Once the cakes are completely cooled, flip them over onto a cutting board and level the tops with a large bread knife.
Prepare the frosting
- In a large mixing bowl cream together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, nd a pinch of salt, until just combined. Do not overmix.
- In another large mixing bowl beat the heavy cream and vanilla until stiff peaks form.
- Add the cream cheese mixture to the whipped cream and beat again until combined. Do not overmix.
Prepare Filling
- Make one box of banana instant pudding according to the package directions.
Assembly
- Place one topless cake layer in front of you and leave the other off to the side.
- Place some frosting into a pastry bag or Ziploc baggie with a corner snipped off.
- Make a circle around the rim of the top.
- Spoon in your cold and chilled pudding. Spread it around so that it fills the circle and is pretty even looking.
- Stack the two cakes on top of each other by placing one on top of the pudding topped one.
- Try to get them to stand as straight as you can. If needed, place everything into the fridge to chill for one hour so it holds up better. You can also freeze the cake at this point and chill the frosting until ready to use.
- When the cakes are stacked and sturdy, pipe the white frosting around the outside where the middles are and go around the cake with a flat leveler or surface (a wooden ruler works okay in a pinch).
- Angle it slightly so you're pressing into the cake while removing excess frosting. This should fill in any gaps so the cake is level on the sides.
- A first layer of frosting would be called a "crumb layer" and it is meant to be thin and to hold any loose crumbs in place. Let it chill at this point before adding another thicker layer of frosting if desired.
- Frost the entire cake with a nice thick layer of white frosting so that it is about ¼ inch thick and you can't see the cake poking through. Go over it again with your flat leveler as much as needed to get it to look as desired. Don't forget to level out the top.
- Press broken cookie crumbs around the outside of the cake to cover the sides.
- Top the cake with sliced bananas and whole Nilla wafer cookies just before serving.
- I added some leftover salted caramel from my Salted Caramel Banana Pancakes as an additional garnish.
- Slice, serve, and enjoy!
Notes
- In one bowl mix 1 box (3.4 ounces) cheesecake flavored instant pudding with 1 cup of milk. Let sit 5 minutes to set.
- Beat 1 quart of heavy cream until stiff peaks in a large bowl and then add in the pudding mix and beat again until combined.
- This frosting is pipeable and will remain stable/shape holding but will still need to be kept in the fridge for food safety reasons. (Any flavor instant pudding will work but the white ones will show food coloring better).
Tori says
I just made this cake today for my brothers bday. Everyone loved it. I added chopped up banana into the pudding before I layered the cake. I will definitely make this again. It was a hit!!!
Kyle Boyd says
I am so going to make this cake....I'll send pics soon.