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Salted Caramel Banana Cake

Salted caramel banana cake with a two-layer crumb and salted caramel cream cheese frosting between the layers, finished with a dramatic caramel drizzle. Sweet banana flavor stays moist with sour cream, while flaky sea salt brings a salty-sweet finish.
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Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings: 12 servings
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

Banana cake
  • 3 ripe bananas Mash until mostly smooth with a few small lumps for texture.
  • 2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 0.5 tsp salt
  • 0.5 tsp cinnamon
  • 0.5 cup butter, softened
  • 1.5 cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 0.75 cup sour cream
Salted caramel frosting
  • 8 oz cream cheese, softened
  • 0.5 cup butter, softened
  • 3 cup powdered sugar
  • 0.5 cup salted caramel sauce (store-bought or homemade)
  • 1 flaky sea salt for topping Use extra-fine flakes or flaky salt for visible crunch.

Equipment

  • 1 sheet pan
  • 1 Dutch oven

Method
 

Bake the banana cake layers
  1. Preheat oven to 350°F and grease two 8-inch round pans.
  2. Beat butter and sugar until fluffy, then add eggs, vanilla, and mashed bananas and mix until smooth.
  3. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
  4. Alternate folding the flour mixture and sour cream into the batter in three additions, starting and ending with the flour mixture.
  5. Divide batter between the pans.
  6. Bake 30–35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
  7. Cool completely before frosting.
Make the salted caramel cream cheese frosting
  1. Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth.
  2. Add powdered sugar and salted caramel sauce, then beat until fluffy.
Assemble and finish
  1. Layer the cooled cakes and frost the top and sides.
  2. Drizzle more salted caramel over the top and down the sides dramatically.
  3. Finish with flaky sea salt on top.

Notes

For clean, sturdy layers, cool cakes fully (room temperature) before frosting so the frosting doesn’t melt and slip. Store covered in the refrigerator up to 4 days; freeze frosted cake slices up to 2 months. For a lighter option, use reduced-fat cream cheese and swap part of the powdered sugar with a sugar alternative to reduce sweetness without changing the caramel drizzle effect.