This banana dump cake is easy to throw together and great if you love baking overripe banana recipes. With cake mix or quick bread mix it is quick and delicious drizzled with caramel sauce for dessert.
Yes we are all about easy dump cake recipes here at The Typical Mom and this banana dump cake is our latest dessert creation. It’s like layered banana bread packed with fresh fruit and topped with vanilla ice cream and/or caramel sauce on top when it’s done. Oh yes we did. (affiliate links present)
We make coconut banana bread pretty often, but when we don’t have time to bake from scratch quick breads are pretty handy to have around.
Why I love dump cakes?
- They’re easy to throw together
- It’s simple to mix flavors and create your favorite dessert combinations
- Dump cake ingredients are great to have on hand in case company shows up unexpectedly
- Everyone loves them!
This is the first way that is in true dump cake form with just a few ingredients. It is egg-free which is important to some people, and similarly to traditional dump cakes it comes out dense on the top with the fruit on the bottom. The top photo is the outcome of this version, great with caramel or ice cream on top.
Ingredients
- Box of quick banana bread mix
- 4 bananas slices, yellow and one that is ripe and brown
- Some eggs to make batter.
- Vegetable oil is needed or Greek yogurt / applesauce are alternatives
- Some water is needed for the batter
- 1/2 c. nuts if you choose to add those
Like I said, I used a banana quick bread to make this – you could use homemade banana bread but that would kinda’ defeat the purpose of it being quick and all……I used 3 large yellow bananas on the bottom in 2 layers so they stayed firmer.
How to Make Dump Cake with Bananas
- Lay sliced bananas on bottom of 9×13″ cake pan
- Sprinkle nuts on top (or chocolate chips)
- Mix dry mix with melted butter and milk
- Pour mix on top of fruit slices
- Smooth evenly across your pan
- Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until lightly golden brown
- Serve warm, flipped upside down, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream on top of the cake
I decided to add some crushed honey roasted pecans in between the two layers of sliced fruit but you could omit if you’d rather or use a different type of nut, walnuts might be good too. Make sure to take out once batter is no longer raw, do not over-bake.
with Cake Mix
If you wanted to use a box of dry cake mix instead of quick bread mix you could. Instead make the batter for our 4 ingredient banana bread and pour that over the top instead. This will come out a bit fluffier than what you see here. Use spice flavor for best results.
How brown should your bananas be for cake?
In this case I want both. Some firmer that are still yellow are best for the bottom so they keep their shape and don’t disintegrate under the batter. Inside the quick bread mix I add one that is quite browned, but not black, to enhance the flavor.
Why is my banana cake not fluffy?
These style of cakes won’t be fluffy, it will come out dense. Reason is that you are layering the fruit and batter instead of integrating everything together so the leavening agents are kinda’ trapped. Instead, just plan on scooping out instead of getting pretty slices.
Banana bread dump cake is a little like pineapple upside down cake in a sense because the goodness is on the bottom and once you scoop out a serving you’ll want to flip it over on to the plate so the bananas are on the top once it’s served. Then….you’ve gotta’ add more goodness to the top.
Here’s what our second banana dump cake looked like when we added egg. It turns out fluffier than the previous one and bananas baked into the cake. Kind’ like our Banana Upside Down Cake, so yummy, recipe card has the instructions for this version.
Tips
- Do not use brown bananas for the bottom
- Use two full layers of bananas, if you need 4 bananas to do that then go for it
- Do not over bake your banana bread topping
- Take it out immediately once the middle is not wet any longer, very lightly browned, insert a toothpick just inside the middle of the bread to check.
- Serve warm with toppings
- Vanilla ice cream is wonderful
- Caramel ice cream topping is great with or without the ice cream
After you make this you’ve got to try our apple pie bread pudding which is really a dump and go dessert too! Here is the printable recipe for our 2nd banana dump cake with egg.
Banana Dump Cake
Equipment
- 1 9×13 pan
- 1 Bowl
Ingredients
- 1 box banana bread mix, quick bread mix
- 4 large bananas, 3 yellow, 1 can be browned – added into the mix
- 1/2 c walnuts, crushed, optional
- 1 c water
- 1/3 c oil
- 2 eggs
Instructions
- Spray 13×9 pan with non stick spray. Slice your 3 yellow bananas and layer on the bottom of the pan, there will be about 2 layers all the way across evenly across the pan.
- Sprinkle nuts in between the 2 banana layers or on top of the final layer if you would like to add those.
- In a bowl mix together your 1 mashed banana, quick banana bread mix, milk, eggs, oil, and water.
- Dump your batter on top of your layers of banana and spread across pan so batter is evenly distributed and the same thickness so it bakes evenly.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes or until top is golden brown, you don’t want to over bake it.
- Take out and put on a cooling rack.
- Slice serving out and flip upside down so bananas are now facing the top of your dump cake piece.
- Drizzle caramel sauce on top or add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and then drizzle caramel on top!!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
