Banana Cake Roll
A cake roll starts with a light airy sponge cake which is then rolled up with a frosting or filling and sliced. It yields a beautiful dessert with equal parts moist cake and frosting, and is fun to make and easy to store. I love my Pumpkin Roll recipe, and thought making a version with banana would be delicious as well. A banana cake roll is a perfect dessert that combines the richness of cake with the fruity flavor of bananas and tanginess of cream cheese.
Ingredients for this Banana Roll Cake Recipe:
- Overripe bananas, mashed
- Eggs
- Sugar
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- Pure vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Cinnamon
For the Cream Cheese Filling:
- Cream cheese, softened
- Powdered sugar
- Vanilla extract
Supplies needed:
- 10×15 Jelly roll Pan
- Electric Mixer
- Large Bowl
- Tea Towel
- Cooling Rack
Instructions:
- Preheat and Prepare: Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Grease a 10×15-inch jelly-roll pan (also known as a half sheet pan) with cooking spray, then line it with parchment paper, leaving a slight overhang on the short sides. Grease the parchment paper as well.
- Prepare the Batter: In a large mixing bowl, eggs with the sugar until pale and thick. Add mashed banana and vanilla extract mixing until well combined.
- Mix Dry Ingredients: In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture, folding gently until just combined.
- Bake the Cake: Spread the batter evenly onto the prepared pan, ensuring it reaches all corners or is at least in a mostly uniform rectangle shape. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-18 minutes or until the cake springs back when lightly touched.
- Roll the Cake: While the cake is still warm, invert it onto a clean kitchen towel dusted with powdered sugar. Carefully peel off the parchment paper. Starting from one short side, roll the cake and towel jelly-roll style. Place it seam side down on a wire rack to cool completely or you can speed this up by placing the roll in the fridge or freezer. (You can also roll it with the parchment paper- I have done that a few times.)
- Prepare the Cream Cheese Filling: In a medium bowl, beat the softened cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until smooth and creamy. Add cinnamon or caramel sauce if you’d like.
- Assemble the Cake: Carefully unroll the cooled cake and spread a super thick layer of the cream cheese filling over the entire surface.
- Roll It Up: Carefully re-roll the cake, this time without the towel, starting from the same short side. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least one hour to set.
- Serve and Enjoy: Once chilled, unwrap the banana cake roll and transfer it to a cutting board. Trim the ends for a clean finish, then dust the rolled cake with powdered sugar all over the top of the cake.
This moist banana sponge cake with rich cream cheese frosting is a delicious dessert for when you want something easy to prepare that is super impressive and can also be made way in advance!
Other Variations:
For a Caramel Banana Cake Roll– drizzle homemade or store bought Caramel sauce on the frosting before rolling. Serve with whipped cream and another drizzle of caramel.
Banana Chocolate Chip Roll– add 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips to the batter and sprinkle a few on the frosting as well.
To Store: Either wrap cake tightly in plastic wrap and then an additional layer of aluminum foil an airtight container.
This post contains affiliate links for a few baking items I find useful for this recipe!
Banana Cake Roll
A moist banana sponge cake with rich cream cheese frosting
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar, plus more for sprinkling on cake
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup mashed banana, from 2 medium-sized bananas
For the Filling:
- 1 8 oz package of cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 6 tablespoons butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
For the cake:
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan ; line with parchment paper. Grease and flour paper. (cooking spray works well for this)
- Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in small bowl.
- Beat eggs and granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until thick and smooth (about 2-3 minutes.) Mix in vanilla and banana. Gradually add flour mixture- making sure not to over-mix. Spread evenly into prepared pan.
- Bake for about 15 minutes or until top of cake springs back when touched.
- While cake is baking- prepare a clean kitchen towel covered very generously with powdered sugar. Immediately after taking cake out of the oven, loosen and carefully turn the cake onto prepared towel. Carefully peel off parchment paper. Right away- roll the cake and towel up together and allow to cool. (This sets the "rolled" shape from the get go- which makes it much easier when you actually fill it.
For the Filling:
- Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy. Add the vanilla and powdered sugar, beating until smooth. Add cinnamon and continue to beat until creamy. Add a touch more powdered sugar if filling needs to be a bit more stiff.
- Carefully unroll the cake. Evenly spread cream cheese filling over the whole surface. Re-roll the cake. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least one hour (or even better, freeze it for a bit- it will slice much more easily.)
- Serve cold sprinkled with powdered sugar (if desired.)
Notes
*I like to add caramel sauce to frosting to add another note of flavor. If you don't have any on hand- you can skip it no problem.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1 gramsAmount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g
Caramel cream cheese filling? I’m dying – this looks absolutely sensational! Great share, I”m so glad I found your blog.
This looks soo delicious. Especially since there’s caramel in there too
I absolutely love this! I haven’t made a rolled cake in ages. I may have to remedy that this holiday season.
It was so good to see you yesterday! You look great!
Audra, this just might be my favorite cake ever on your blog! Pinned!
Oh man, I don’t watch any of those shows, but I NEED to get into them – they’re all my friends talk about! Also, great cake roll – it looks awesome :)
What a beautiful cake! And now I’m super excited to check out your baby updates! We just had our first baby this June. Best adventure!
Congrats to you on your first babe! I’m getting so excited :)
I totally noticed the G sign! How cute! If you dye the banana cake green and tint the frosting yellow, it would be perfect for a football party! That is, assuming it comes out the same way lol
I’ve never made a roll cake before, but that is some seriously delicious looking inspiration!! I’m definitely going to have to try it soon, yours looks amazing!!
Actually I’ve never really liked cake rolls but I think this is just because I haven’t found the perfect recipe, yet! I’ll be trying yours out and let you know!
xo, Elisa
I am loving Scandal this season – Mellie is pure evil, but she’s hilarious! What a fun idea to switch up the typical pumpkin roll cake, and I wholeheartedly approve of your filling. Cream cheese plus caramel = total yum :)
Lovely look cake and they look perfect. Banana works so perfect. Pinning this.
Oh man, Audra! You certainly know your way around an irresistible fall dessert. This cake roll is KILLER!
Which two plays did you see?!? I haven’t seen anything on broadway in forever..which is kind of tragic.
I kind of love that you thought outside the pumpkin norm with this roll cake! Banana and caramel definitely sound like a match made in heaven!
I love cake rolls since you get frosting in every bite. This banana version is such a great twist!
What a fun flavor for a cake roll! It looks perfect!
This banana cake roll is incredible!! Like something straight out of my dreams :)
Am so excited to try this recipe!
I was just wondering why doesn’t this recipe have any butter/ veg oil in it?
You know- it seems weird to not have any fat but it totally works! It’s a sponge cake (which often times don’t have butter or oil) The eggs and the moisture from the banana makes the texture just perfect :)
Thank you for your reply :-D
I baked it yesterday it turned out perfect <3
just took this out of the oven and it is now rolled and cooling…smells great…
Looks lovely.. I love creamy banana anything!
Always love your recipes. I think I will add some walnuts to the cake n sprinkle some ground w-nuts on top with sugar. Yummy. Trying this for hubbies bday.
This looked amazing but mine did not turn out well at all! I checked on it at 9 minutes and the edges and bottom were crisp but the middle wasn’t cooked enough. I also saw a lot of air bubbles. Banana recipes are tricky!
I like the sound of this, but in Croatia we don’t have caramel sauce in the stores, so I’m thinking of caramelising bananas and flambeing them with rum and puting it on the roll as decoration. And my advice would also be to beat the eggwhites and fold them in the mixture so the sponge rises a bit, it’s softer that way.
I can’t wait to try this I love banana’s
Yummy Recipe. I like that..
I have made this 3 times already and everyone loves it.
Thank you so much!
In one section of this article, it says preheat oven to 350 degrees. In the baking instructions, it says bake at 375 degrees. Which is correct?
I don’t understand why you use parchment paper, and flip it onto the powdered sugar! I don’t flip it, I just roll it up with the parchment paper and it works just as well, with less mess. I remember just baking the cake in a greased jelly roll pan, and had no problem flipping it onto a powdered towel. Now of course I just use parchment to roll it.
You definitely can do it your way too. I have rolled it with the parchment paper as well.
For the filling, it states to add cinnamon in the filling of the banana cake roll. Doesn’t state how much??
Hi! If you scroll to the recipe card it has all the amounts for you. 1/2 tsp cinnamon