Banana Cake Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting are a sweet treat that tastes a lot like a banana cake. You can make this yummy banana dessert in under an hour, and serve it with or without the delicious cream cheese frosting.
Banana Cake Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting
Banana desserts are some of my favorites. We almost always have a few bananas sitting on the counter ripening, ready for making cake, bread or muffins.
Since today's recipe is Banana Bars, I thought I'd explain the difference between bars and a cake.
Bar or Cake?
To my mind, a bar, or dessert bar as they are often called, is thinner and a bit denser than a cake. Even close to a cookie in some cases.
These banana bars are just a bit denser than cake, but not much, therefore I call them cake bars. It seemed the best description.
A Word About the Baking Pan
This recipe uses a classic jelly roll pan. These are essentially smaller rimmed sheet pans, typically 10½ x 15½ inches, and 1 inch deep.
If you were to bake this cake on a larger sheet pan, the banana bars would be too thin, and the cook time would be off.
Jelly roll pans are handy to have on hand for smaller batches of roasting, cookies, and much more.
If you don't have a jelly roll pan you can use a standard 9 x 13 inch baking dish. The bars will be just a little thicker (They may need a few more minutes of cook time).
The Cream Cheese Frosting
My favorite frosting for these banana cake bars is absolutely cream cheese frosting. Homemade if possible.
I have the perfect Homemade Cream Cheese Frosting recipe for these bars.
You will need one batch to get the perfect amount of creamy, sweet frosting on every bar!
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If you make this delicious Banana Cake Bars recipe, please leave a comment with a star rating below. I'd love to know how you liked it!
Banana Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
CAKE
- 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter softened
- 1 1/2 cups White Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Sour Cream
- 2 cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 3/4 tsp Cinnamon
- 1 cup Mashed Ripe Bananas
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease or spray a 10.5" x 15.5" jelly roll pan.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla and sour cream.
- Mix in the mashed banana.
- Mix together the flour, baking soda and salt. Stir into the batter. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow bars to cool completely before frosting with the cream cheese frosting.
Notes
Nutrition
Resources to Make this Recipe and More
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Krystal says
Oh my goodness! These are AMAZING!!!