Banana Pineapple Cake
A recipe for Banana Pineapple Cake. Use up those ripe bananas and have a slice! This old family favorite is simple to make and a taste of home.
Use up those ripe bananas and have a slice of Banana Pineapple Cake! This old family favorite is simple to make and a taste of home.
My mom was not exactly a cook. At least for the early part of my childhood. I have many memories of her producing dried out pork chops that would take half an hour to chew before each swallow. As I got older, her skills as a cook definitely improved, but it was never her forte. In fact, she had a cross stitch that she made framed on the wall that read, “Kitchen Closed. I’m Sick of Cooking!”
She was, however, a baker. Some of my fondest memories of my mom were our Saturdays, when she would spend all day in the kitchen, working on cakes or breads. I loved watching her and helping when I could. When I was back home in New York a few summers ago, I found her binder of recipes, full of clippings and scribbles, along with letters from family. This recipe for Banana Pineapple Cake was one she actually had time to transfer to an index card, in her neatest handwriting. In the binder, I also found a letter from my aunt who told my mom how much she missed this cake of hers, one of her signature desserts. I’m not sure the origin of the recipe, but for me, it’s mom’s.
Whenever I have ripe bananas, I have to decide, do I make banana bread or do I make banana pineapple cake? Well, sometimes I have so many ripe bananas, I can make both! Each slice of this homey cake brings me back to those Saturday bake days, my mother in her element, dusted in flour and sugar. With each bite, it’s like being with my mom again, if only for just a moment.
Note: This post first appeared February 5, 2010; the recipe has been updated from the archives with improved kitchen notes and recipe annotation. I hope you enjoy this favorite from my kitchen.
If you love this Banana Pineapple Cake, here are more ways to bake with bananas:
Banana Nut Ricotta Muffins
Buttermilk Banana Bread (Reader Favorite!)
Chocolate Banana Fig Bread
Zucchini Banana Brownies
Chocolate Banana Quinoa Muffins
Banana Caramel Mug Cake
Banana Pineapple Cake
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3 large eggs slightly beaten
- 2 cups mashed bananas about 4-5 very ripe bananas
- 1 cup canola oil
- 1 8 1/4 -oz can crushed pineapple (or fresh; see notes below)
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
- confectioner's sugar for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 10-inch fluted tube pan or bundt pan with butter or cooking spray, and dust with flour. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, or in the bowl of an electric mixer, stir together the flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, bananas, oil, undrained crushed pineapple, and vanilla. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients, stirring until just combined, scraping the bowl periodically. Do not overmix the batter.
- Pour batter into the prepared tube pan. Bake for about 60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 15 minutes, then remove and cool on wire rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Comments
COOKBOOK
Can you substitute the sugar for anything else as I’m making for a first birthday cake?
Hi Kerry, you can try adding a touch less sugar, if you want to cut back a little!
Very lovely cake! Can the oil be substituted for melted butter?
Hi Abigail! The oil makes for a very moist cake, but you can definitely substitute melted, cooled butter. Just note that it will result in a firmer cake. Enjoy! I made this again last week – I hope you love it as much as I do.
OMG I FORGOT THE CANOLA OIL AND ITS IN THE OVEN FOR 30 MIN ALREADY. I HOPE IT TURNS OUT OK BECAUSE I PUT A LOT OF WORK INTO THE CAKE.
Peggy, I’m so sorry you forgot the canola oil!! I hope you get to try it again, since it really is a lovely recipe.
I have been baking this very same recipe for over 40 years now! I found it in a magazine.
This recipe and the one I have are identical. It is an amazing cake! I have never had a failure with mine either. I like to put a little frozen pineapple juice concentrate in the frosting. I bake mine in a 9×13 inch pan and it comes out nice and full and works very well! Thank you for sharing your story with this cake and I hope many will enjoy it it is a truely beautiful cake!
JL, I love hearing that! Do you remember which magazine? I imagine that is where my mom found the recipe!
Thank you for this comment.. I was wondering if I could just cook it in a normal cake pan
Absolutely! You can divide it into two 9-inch cake pans, as well.
The ratio of Liquid or soft ingredients are too much for dry ingredients. Even after 80 minutes in the oven it was still mushy. Not edible!
Hi, Lima. I am so sorry to hear that the cake did not work out for you, and find it especially puzzling since I have been baking this cake with my mother since I was a child. It has been foolproof for me, and I have made this cake so many times in my lifetime, and have heard from friends and readers who have had repeated success in their own kitchens. It is hard for me to say what went wrong in your kitchen — it could have been your oven temperature, altitude, measurement error, the pan used (I use a 10-inch tube or bundt pan), baking on the wrong rack, etc. I hate to hear that this did not work for you when my mother’s recipe is well tested and so special to me.
i noticed canned pineapple crushed is available in its own juice and in syrup. please don’t tell me they are interchangeable as sugar content, excessive juice ,ect.!!!!