Banana Split Cake Recipe

How to make a banana split cake with yummy banana, strawberry and vanilla cake layers. Filled with strawberry buttercream and topped with a decadent chocolate drip, sprinkles, nuts and maraschino cherries! The perfect celebration cake! (Makes one 8"x2" cake per flavor)

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Prep Time 35

Cook Time 35

Total Time 10

Servings servings

Calories 496kcal

Author Elizabeth Marek

Ingredients

Banana Cake Ingredients

6 oz cake flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
3 large eggs room temperature
4 oz sugar
1 oz brown sugar
4 oz very ripe banana puree (about 2 bananas)
2 oz vegetable oil
1 oz buttermilk room temperature
4 oz softened butter

Vanilla Cake Recipe

6 oz cake flour
6 oz granulated sugar
2 teaspoon baking powder
⅛ teaspoon baking soda
⅛ teaspoon salt
4 oz unsalted butter room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs room temperature
5 oz milk room temperature
1 oz vegetable oil

Chocolate Cake Ingredients

1.5 oz dutched cocoa powder
4 oz boiling water
2 large eggs room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 oz mayonaise
7 oz cake flour
6 oz granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
3 oz unsalted butter room temperature

Chocolate Drip

4 oz hot cream
7 oz semi-sweet or dark chocolate

Buttercream

8 oz pasteurized egg whites
16 oz unsalted butter softened
16 oz powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ tsp salt
¼ cup strawberry puree For filling

Instructions

Banana Cake Instructions

Preheat oven to 350ºF and prepare one 8" cake pans with cake goop or other cake release. Make sure all cold ingredients are room temp or slightly warmed.
Combine together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and set aside.
Combine together buttermilk, banana, oil and vanilla. Whisk and set aside.
Place softened butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and cream until smooth. Sprinkle in brown and white sugar and whip on medium until light and fluffy.
Add in your eggs one at a time, waiting for them to be combined before adding the next.
Add in ⅓ of your flour mixture and then ⅓ of your liquid. Alternate two more times and mix until just combined.
Pour into your prepared cake pans and bake for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick comes out cleanly. Let cool fully before frosting.

Vanilla Cake Instructions

NOTE: It is SUPER IMPORTANT that all the room temperature ingredients listed above are room temperature and not cold or hot.
Place 2oz of the milk and oil in a separate bowl or cup and set aside
Combine remaining milk, vanilla and room temp eggs in a separate measuring cup and set aside
Measure out dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) and place them into the stand mixer bowl.
Attach the paddle to the mixer, and turn on the slowest speed (setting 1 on Kitchen Aid mixers). Slowly add chunks of your softened butter until it is all added. Let mix until batter resembles coarse sand.
Add milk/oil mixture into the dry ingredients and mix on medium speed (speed 4 on my KitchenAid) and mix for 2 full minutes. Do not skip this step or your cake will not rise.
Add in ⅓ of your milk/egg mixture. Repeat 2 more times until batter is just combined. Don't forget to scrape your bowl.
I always start by baking for 30 minutes for 8" then checking for doneness. If the cakes are still really jiggly, I add another 5 minutes. I check every 3 minutes after that until I'm close and then it's every 2 minutes. Cakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs.
Remove the cake pan from the oven and "tap" it lightly on the counter once to remove air from the cake and keep it from shrinking un-evenly.
Place cakes on a cooling rack and press down the dome immediately with an oven mitt covered hand. After cakes have cooled for 10 minutes or the pans are cool enough to touch, flip the cakes over and remove from the pans onto the cooling racks to cool completely. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator.
Once the cakes are chilled in the refrigerator (about an hour for this size, longer for larger cakes), tort, fill and crumb coat all at once. If you do not plan on crumb coating the same day, you can leave the wrapped cakes on the countertop. Chilling can dry out your cakes before they are iced, so avoid keeping them in the refrigerator longer than necessary. Cakes can be frozen in freezer bags for later use as well.

Chocolate Cake Instructions

Preheat oven to 350ºF and prepare two 8" cake pans with cake goop or other cake release. Make sure all cold ingredients are room temp or slightly warmed.
Bring the water to a boil. Add in cocoa powder.
Whisk until smooth then add in cold mayonnaise, vanilla and eggs. Whisk to break up the eggs.
Weigh out all dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt) and place into a stand mixer bowl and attach the paddle attachment.
Turn mixer on low (setting 1 on Kitchen Aid mixers). Add in your room temperature butter in small chunks. Combine on low until you achieve a sandy mixture.
Add ½ of your liquid ingredients into your dry ingredients and mix on medium for 2 minutes. If you do not do this step, your cake could collapse.
Turn your mixer back down to low and add in the rest of your liquids slowly. Stop once or twice to scrape the bowl as needed.
Once they are all combined, turn back up to medium for another 30 seconds.
Lightly grease one 8" round cake pans prepared with your choice of pan release. I prefer cake goop.
Bake for 30 minutes at 350ºF depending on how big your pans are. The bigger the pan, the longer it will take for them to bake.
When a toothpick comes out of the center with a few sticky crumbs on it, the cake is done.
After the cakes have cooled for about 10 minutes, or the pans have cooled to the point they can be touched, flip the cakes over and remove from the pans onto a cooling rack to cool completely. I cover mine in plastic wrap to keep them from drying out why they cool.
Once the cakes are completely cool you can trim them and frost them.

Chocolate drip

Chop chocolate finely and place in heat proof bowl.
Heat cream until just starting to steam, do not boil.
Pour hot cream over chocolate and let set 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth

Buttercream Instructions

Combine egg whites and powdered sugar in the stand of your mixer with whisk attachment. Mix on low to combine then bump up to high for 5 minutes.
Add in your softened butter in small chunks.
Add in vanilla and salt.
Whip on high until white, fluffy and creamy.
Switch to paddle attachment and mix on low for 15 minutes to remove air bubbles.
Add ¼ cup strawberry puree to 1 cup buttercream and mix together until combined to use as your cake filling
Save the rest of the buttercream for frosting the cake

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