Banana Bread Bundt Cake with Bourbon Glaze

Here you’ll find all the great flavor of a moist banana bread in bundt cake form. An optional bourbon glaze adds an extra bit of tasty sweetness.

Why you’ll love it

If you love banana bread you’ll love this banana bundt cake. The sweetness is the same but we’ve cut back on the butter to give it a slightly firmer texture.

It’s pretty! Y’all, as much as we love old school Banana Nut Bread there is nothing good looking about it. It’s just a plain brown box, right?

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A bundt cake, though? It’s a thing of beauty. We used our traditional 12 cup pan, but there are lots of interesting choices out there. Just check out this page full of options. Be sure to order at least the 12 cup size because this recipe makes more batter than will go in a 10 cup bundt pan.

Keeping in mind the size of the cake you can rest assured that you’ll get more servings from this cake than you would a traditional loaf. If you only cut into 12 pieces they’re going to be big ones.

More likely you’ll cut smaller pieces and be able to get at least 14 servings. A few of those slices added to your Breakfast Charcuterie Board would be a great idea!

If you have some bananas left over from your cake, you can always make some Banana Pudding.

The bourbon glaze is optional

Now, you know we use bourbon around here like most people use vanilla. In fact, we love it in savory dishes too. Our Bourbon Glazed Beef Tenderloin is our go-to beef recipe and butternut squash is perfectly paired with bourbon and bacon in this recipe.

It gives an interesting twist of flavor to the glaze for this cake but you can leave the bourbon out and just add a little more milk.

Or, you can leave the glaze off all together and have an unglazed bundt. To dress it up a little you can always add a dusting of powdered sugar like we do on Charleston Chewies and Hot Fudge Pudding Cake.

Ingredients

• Butter – salted or unsalted works fine
• Sugar – granulated white sugar
• Ripe Bananas – 4 if you have larger bananas, 5 if they’re smaller. Make sure they’re ripe (starting to get brown spots on the skin) or they won’t mash up well
• Eggs – large eggs are the standard in baking
• Flour – plain all purpose
• Baking Soda
• Salt
• Vanilla
• Confectioners Sugar
• Bourbon – We keep a less expensive bourbon on hand for cooking
• Milk – We use whole milk, but you can use any type you have on hand or substitute half-and-half if you like

How to make Banana Bread Bundt Cake

1. Cream the room temperature butter and sugar with a mixer on medium speed until fluffy – about 1-2 minutes.
2. Stir the mashed bananas, eggs, and the vanilla into the butter mixture.
3. Stir all of the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed just until well blended.
5. Pour into a 12-14 cup bundt pan that has been greased and floured or sprayed with a baking spray like Bakers Joy.
6. Bake for 50-60 minutes at 325 degrees checking for doneness by inserting a clean toothpick in the center. As soon as it comes out clean remove the cake from the oven to cool for 8-10 minutes before removing from pan.
7. After the cake is completely cool stir together the sugar and wet ingredients for the glaze and pour or drizzle over cake.

Tips and Tricks

• To mash bananas use a fork, a blender or food processor, or the fun method we describe in our Banana Buttermilk Pancakes recipe.
• Always use a combination of grease of some type and flour to coat your pan. We love the sprays designed specifically for that because it’s so easy to get into every little nook and cranny.
• Start checking for doneness at 50 minutes with a clean toothpick. If you get wet batter on the pick close the oven door gently and check again in 3 to 4 minutes.

Storage

This cake will keep at room temperature for about 2 days if covered with a cake cover. After two days you probably won’t have any left, but if you do refrigerate it.

It will keep for 2-3 months in the freezer if wrapped well. To keep the wrap from sticking to the glaze freeze it unwrapped and then wrap it and put back in freezer.

A common question

Can this bundt cake be made in a loaf pan? This recipe has been created specifically for making a banana bundt cake. It makes too much batter to make in a loaf pan. We’ve also cut back on the butter to give it a slightly firmer “cake like” texture.

We have not tested this recipe in a loaf pan, but if we did it would be in two smaller loaf pans.

More recipes to try for brunch or snacking