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Vintage Recipe: Honey Banana Cake

Dessert, Recipes, Vintage

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My grandmother didn't have much of a sweet tooth, but she loved to make banana cake.  Quite often when we went to visit she would have a pan of banana cake, slathered in maple frosting, waiting in the kitchen.

This is my great-grandmother's honey banana cake recipe, passed down through generations. I love old-fashioned recipes because they didn't use processed sugar or flour, making this a real food recipe! Grab this now and start this banana cake tradition in your family. Plus, it just tastes plain fabulous!

Then I discovered this handwritten recipe for banana cake among my great-grandmother's recipes.  It seems a love of banana cake just might have been multi-generational!

Although the original cake would have been made with white flour and brown sugar, my version uses spelt and honey, but could easily be substituted with whole wheat flour.

Banana Tip: Ever have bananas turning overripe before you can get to them? Simple peel and freeze until you're ready to bake!

Vintage Honey Banana Cake Instructions

Beat together the butter and honey until smooth.  Beat in eggs.  Stir in lemon juice, bananas, and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine the remaining ingredients.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, stirring until combined.

Pour into greased 9×13 pan and cook at 350 degrees for 40 – 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool.

This is my great-grandmother's honey banana cake recipe, passed down through generations. I love old-fashioned recipes because they didn't use processed sugar or flour, making this a real food recipe! Grab this now and start this banana cake tradition in your family. Plus, it just tastes plain fabulous!

Peanut Butter Frosting

Although there is no frosting mentioned on the original recipe, I like to add a little something to my cake, in memory of my grandmother.  Rather than use her maple-flavored buttercream, I whip up this simple peanut butter frosting.

  • ⅓ cup softened butter
  • ⅓ cup natural peanut butter
  • 1 Tbsp honey
  • pinch of salt

Beat butter and peanut butter until smooth.  Add in honey and salt.  Spread over cake.

This is my great-grandmother's honey banana cake recipe, passed down through generations. I love old-fashioned recipes because they didn't use processed sugar or flour, making this a real food recipe! Grab this now and start this banana cake tradition in your family. Plus, it just tastes plain fabulous!

Vintage Recipe: Honey Banana Cake

Andrea Sabean
This banana honey cake is deliciously moist with the bananas and honey, making it favorite anytime of day.
No ratings yet
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes mins
Cook Time 40 minutes mins
Total Time 50 minutes mins
Course Dessert
Servings 12

Ingredients
  

  • ½ cup butter softened
  • ¾ cup honey or maple syrup
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 3 ripe bananas mashed
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 cups spelt flour or whole wheat
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp arrowroot flour or cornstarch
  • ½ tsp salt
  • Peanut Butter Frosting
  • ⅓ cup softened butter
  • ⅓ cup natural peanut butter
  • 1 Tbsp honey
  • pinch of salt

Instructions
 

  • Beat together the butter and honey until smooth.
  • Beat in eggs.
  • Stir in lemon juice, bananas, and vanilla.
  • In a separate bowl, combine remaining ingredients.
  • Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, stirring until combined.
  • Pour into greased pan and cook at 350 degrees for 40 – 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
  • Frosting Directions
  • Beat butter and peanut butter until smooth. Add in honey and salt. Spread over cake.

Notes

  • To make these into cupcakes, pour into greased or lined cupcake tins and bake for 18 to 20 minutes.
Keyword honey banana cake
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Enjoy!

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Melissa Norris

Melissa K. Norris inspires people's faith and pioneer roots with her books, podcast, and blog. Melissa lives with her husband and two children in their own little house in the big woods in the foothills of the North Cascade Mountains. When she's not wrangling chickens and cattle, you can find her stuffing Mason jars with homegrown food and playing with flour and sugar in the kitchen.

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Comments:

  1. Deborah Wilbanks

    October 3, 2015 at 9:11 am

    Thank you for sharing this great recipe, can’t wait to try it. I am not big on peanut butter but love maple, could you please also give the maple butter cream recipe? Thank you for the wonderful work you always do, God Bless you

    Reply
    • Andrea Sabean

      October 3, 2015 at 9:33 am

      Hi Deborah, I unfortunately don’t have my grandmother’s exact recipe for maple buttercream, but found one that sounds similar: http://thissillygirlslife.com/2014/09/maple-buttercream-frosting/2/ Enjoy! 🙂

      Reply
    • Elizabeth

      August 8, 2020 at 12:05 am

      I just love your sight keep up the good work

      Reply
  2. Julio

    October 4, 2015 at 12:56 pm

    Looks great, going to make today!!

    Reply
  3. Chris

    November 14, 2015 at 5:40 pm

    Do you have the full original recipe? I didn’t see the honey on the original. Thank you!

    Reply
    • Andrea Sabean

      November 15, 2015 at 5:56 pm

      Hi Chris, What you see in the photo is the full original recipe. I adapted it for honey because I prefer it over the brown sugar. My great-grandmother wrote all of her recipes down that way – on scraps of paper and with no directions on how to put the ingredients together!

      Reply
  4. Michele

    June 3, 2017 at 1:29 am

    Is that an 8×8 glass dish you used?

    Reply
    • Andrea Sabean

      June 6, 2017 at 8:41 pm

      Hi Michelle,

      Yes, that is an 8×8 glass pan. I hope you enjoy the recipe!

      Reply
  5. Katie Holmes

    April 1, 2020 at 2:07 pm

    Thanks Andrea for the great vintage recipe! My kids love my grandma’s chocolate chip banana muffin recipe and they love peanut butter. I can’t wait to try your recipe with the peanut butter frosting.

    Reply
  6. Felicia

    January 31, 2023 at 3:51 pm

    I’m always looking for spelt recipes, and often have buttermilk around I’m looking for new recipes to put it in. (I’ve switched to spelt as my main flour, trying to get away from processed foods as much as possible.) And always have bananas around and sometimes looking for new and varied things to do with my extra bananas.

    My grandmother also wrote recipes down on scraps of paper, back of envelopes, whatever was handy. Your great grandmother’s handwriting is similar to my great grandmother’s, as well.

    Her recipe uses sour milk, and you have obviously changed that to lemon juice. If I use the buttermilk, should I use her 4Tbl? Or less? I know in breadmaking, spelt takes less liquid than modern. There doesn’t seem to be much of a difference for other baked goods. But I haven’t made a ton of recipes meant for modern wheat but using spelt.

    Thank you for this! I’m enjoying exploring your site!

    Reply

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