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Vintage Recipe Project Banana Cake

Updated By 40 Comments

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Vintage Banana Cake Recipe

This vintage Banana Cake recipe is the best banana cake I have ever tasted. It is moist and fluffy. If you have been looking for that old fashioned banana cake recipe that your grandmother made this is it!

Old Fashioned Banana Cake recipe from the Vintage recipe project via flouronmyface.com

 This old fashioned Banana Cake recipe comes from The Kitchen Kapers Cook Book. Recipes compiled by The Woman’s Society of Christian Service First Methodist Church of Dover, Ohio.

I did a little extra research and I believe this cookbook could be from as early as 1930. The recipe was submitted by Lulu Exline.

Banana Cake Recipe, Vintage Banana Cake, Recipe, family recipes

Vintage Banana Cake Recipe

This vintage cookbook belonged to my husband’s grandmother. My mother in law knowing how much I love old vintage recipes was kind enough to pass all of her families cookbooks and recipes on to me.

I’ve shared a number of them here in the Vintage Recipe Project. You can find more vintage recipes by clicking on the Vintage recipes link in the toolbar above.

Original Recipe as written in the cookbook

1 ¼ cup white sugar
1 cup sour or buttermilk
½ cup butter
1 tsp soda
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 ½ cups flour
2 bananas
1 tsp baking powder

Mash bananas fine, set aside. Cream butter and sugar add eggs, add bananas, dissolve soda in buttermilk add with flour alternately to which baking powder has been added.

vintage, family, recipes, dover, ohio, church recipes, church cookbooks

The Vintage Recipe Project

The above recipe is copied as is. There were no baking instructions.

I made a couple of adjustments to the recipe. I increased the bananas to 3 instead of 2. I also added ½ tsp of salt.

Modern day adjustments and mixing directions below.

The recipe will fill 2 nine inch cake pans. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

You could also use loaf pans or make cupcakes with this recipe. You will have to adjust the cooking times of course.

This was really one of the best recipes for banana cake that I’ve ever tasted. The cake was fluffy and moist with a great banana flavor.

I used about a half a can of chocolate frosting for the filling and left the top and sides unfrosted. This will be my go-to recipe for banana bread, muffins or cake from now on.

Vintage Banana Cake Recipe

Banana Cake, Frosted Banana Cake Recipe, fluffy banana cake recipe

Banana Cake with a Chocolate frosting filling

My version of this vintage Banana Cake recipe.

I made some slight changes to the vintage recipe above. Same ingredients, with the exception that I added one more banana and ½ tsp of salt.

How to make Vintage Banana Cake Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup sour or buttermilk
  • ½ cup butter
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 large overripe bananas
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

  1. Prepare two 9 inch cake pans by greasing them with solid shortening and flouring them.
  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  3. Mix flour with all of the dry ingredients and whisk to incorporate.
  4. Mash 3 bananas in a medium-sized bowl.
  5. Cream the butter and sugar together.
  6. Add eggs to the butter and sugar one at a time and beat until fluffy.
  7. Add buttermilk and vanilla to the bananas and mix well.
  8. Fold banana mixture into the sugar, and eggs and mix well.
  9. Slowly fold flour mixture into the other ingredients.
  10. Fold until all ingredients are moist.
  11. Pour batter into the prepared cake pans.
  12. Bake for 30 minutes or until the center spring back.

Print the Vintage Recipe Project Banana Cake Recipe Below

Print
Old Fashioned Banana Cake recipe from the Vintage recipe project via flouronmyface.com

The Vintage Recipe Project: Banana Cake

★★★★★ 5 from 3 reviews
  • Author: Arlene Mobley - Flour On My Face
  • Prep Time: 15 Minutes
  • Cook Time: 30 minutes
  • Total Time: 45 minutes
  • Yield: 8 servings 1x
  • Category: Cake
  • Method: Baked
  • Cuisine: American
Print

Description

This old-fashioned vintage banana cake recipe is light and fluffy just like when Grandma made it. This vintage cake recipe is from the 1940’s and found in a cookbook from Dover Ohio

Scale

Ingredients

  • 1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup sour or buttermilk
  • ½ cup butter
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 bananas
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

  1. Prepare two 9 inch cake pans by greasing them with solid shortening and flouring them.
  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  3. Mix flour with all of the dry ingredients and whisk to incorporate.
  4. Mash 3 bananas in a medium sized bowl.
  5. Cream the butter and sugar.
  6. Add eggs to the butter and sugar one at a time and beat until fluffy.
  7. Add buttermilk and vanilla to the bananas and mix well.
  8. Fold banana mixture into the sugar, butter and eggs and mix well.
  9. Slowly fold flour mixture into the other ingredients.
  10. Fold until all ingredients are moist.
  11. Pour batter into the prepared cake pans.
  12. Bake for 30 minutes or until the center spring back.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 Slice
  • Calories: 456

Keywords: vintage cake recipe, 1940's cake recipe, old fashioned banana cake recipe

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Do you long for the days of yesteryear when homemakers knew how to stretch a dollar to feed their families.? Depression-era woman knew how to feed their families with what they had on hand.

 

Check out Premeditated Left Overs 16 Frugal Depression Era Recipes to learn how you can be frugal and still feed your family delicious recipes.

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About Arlene Mobley

Arlene Mobley author of Flour On My Face-a Food & Lifestyle website helping busy families get dinner on the table by serving easy recipes every week.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  7. Mo

    Saw you post on Blogs by Heather and thought I'd check you out. 🙂 Glad I did! What a great recipe! I look forward to making this for my family. And to seeing what else you have instore. 🙂

    Reply

  9. Angela

    I( just now) came across this lovely (and easy to prepare) banana cake. I’ll definately make it as soon as I buy more bananas and some buttermilk. I plan to use ‘Orange Glaze” on it instead of Chocolate Frosting….but I’m sure that would be delicious, as well. You definately can’t beat those old recipes! This looks to be very close to a cake which my mom made many years ago, so I’m anxious to try it.

    Reply

  10. Jean

    I make banana bread and cupcakes with chocolate chips added, but I am so anxious to make this vintage cake. Thank you so much, Arlene, for going through the challenge of updating and sharing this wonderful recipe.

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  11. Helene Powers

    Hello,
    For the grandmother’s Banana Cake………
    Can I use an 8X 8 pan and cut the receipe in two ?
    Or a 9 x 13 pan ?

    Thank you and congrats on your page
    Helene

    Reply

  12. Cate

    I made this cake yesterday as per your instructions, but I sandwiched mine together with a homemade version of Nutella. It must have been good as, when I went to grab a slice for my lunch today, the cake tin is empty

    ★★★★★

    Reply

  13. Cathy Smith

    Probably the reason they were no baking instructions were that back in grandmas depression days they used wood stoves and the baking instructions would not have worked for us anyway. I had a cookbook that I cherished for many years from my mother that she had used that came with a wood stove. It had a recipe for an awesome pound cake in it, but no baking directions that could be used with a modern days stove. The directions simply stated “place the cake pan inside the oven with it is too hot to place your hand to the oven door”. I however, did make the pound cake on several occasions, simply by guessing a temperature and carefully watching my cake and testing for doneness. It was a wonderful “pound cake”. The recipe called for 1 lb. of butter, 1 lb. of flour, 1 lb. of sugar and 1 lb. of eggs (10 eggs).

    Reply

      • Liz

        I’ve just made this cake with my daughter and it is cooking nicely in the fan oven.We use celsius temp în UK but i Googled the conversion and I think 160 is ok. I grew up with Fahrenheit and pounds and ounces so I prefer the old ways. We didn’t have buttermilk so I used milk. She had to look for a 1930s recipe for a school project. Fingers crossed. Love banana cake and I’m looking forward to tasting this one.

        Reply

  14. Cathy C.

    Yayyyy ! This is a cake from my childhood. My mom was raised during the depression and she made this when we were kids. She never wrote down the recipe. I’ve looked for it seems like forever. She would make an icing using butter, a mashed banana and powdered sugar. I’m guessing a 1/2 to 1 stick of butter, the banana and then enough powdered sugar to make a spreading ( but soft ) consistency. Delicious ! Keep refrigerated after icing . Such a tasty banana dessert ! Thank you for sharing this recipe.

    Reply

  15. PB

    This banana cake is a vintage find! I made it today with two overripe bananas (forgot the baking powder), added the salt and used egg beaters instead of real eggs. I baked it in a tube
    Springform, only buttered for 40 minutes. I didn’t do much of
    the folding and blending in. I just mixed the dry ingredients and the wet ones and then combined them. The cake is wonderfully fluffy and could be used with a crumble bake, or any way it suits or fits the occasion I already shared the recipe with friends and family!.

    Reply

  16. Jackie S.

    Arlene:

    I tried to get in touch with you about your vintage recipes but kept getting a error message when I tried to send it. Would you write me as I have a question to ask you. I love your site and vintage recipes.

    Reply

  17. Chris

    Just the recipe was looking for. Love the old recipes too. Simple and reliable. Added some firmer diced bananas to batter so would have little moist surprises in the cake(holds shape and flavor for a wow. Made a cream cheese whipping cream filling with fresh bananas mixed in for fill and to top. Drizzles a bit of salted caramel and toasted walnuts on top. Mmmmmmm

    Reply

  18. Loretta Rush

    My mother used to make this cake and always put chopped pecans in it. She made a frosting with mashed bananas, choppped pecans and powdered sugar. I loved this cake. Sometimes, I make it without frosting and it is great plain also. My mother was married in 1931 and cooked a lot without recipes or exact measurements, but she was an awesome cook!

    Reply

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