Banana Rum Cake

by Sabrina Snyder

Last Update:

16 Comments

5 from 9 votes
16 servings
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
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Banana Rum Cake is a moist, flavorful, and showstopping cake that you’ll wish you could make every day! Cake Mix option included! Try it soon!

Bananas Fosters meets Yellow Cake in this easy, decadent Cake Recipe. Try my Classic Lady Baltimore Cake and Easy Rum Cake too!

Sabrina’s Banana Rum Cake Recipe

This show stopping dessert is inspired by one of my favorite cook books. It is delicious, beautiful, and comes together in just an hour and a half. Your guest will all think you picked it up at a local bakery!

Recipe Card

Dinner, then Dessert

Banana Rum Cake Recipe

Banana Rum Cake is so moist and flavorful! Made with tender cake, dark rum, and topped with buttery rum glaze. Cake Mix option included! Try it soon!
Yield 16 servings
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
Bundt cake on a cake stand with slice taken out
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Ingredients
 

Banana Cake

  • 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter , softened
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar , packed
  • 5 large eggs
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 1 1/2 cups banana , mashed (very ripe)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3 tablespoons dark rum
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup walnuts , chopped

Rum Glaze

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar , packed
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup dark rum

Instructions

Banana Rum Cake

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 10-cup bundt pan with baking spray.
  • To your stand mixer add the butter and sugar on high speed and cream it until light and fluffy, about 1-2 minutes.
  • Add in the brown sugar and beat for another 30 seconds.
  • Add in the eggs, one at a time until well combined.
  • Lower speed to medium and add in the sour cream, banana, vanilla and rum until well combined.
  • Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and add it in small batches on low speed until just combined.
  • Fold in the walnuts with a spatula and pour the batter into your bundt pan.
  • Bake for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Rum Glaze

  • Add all the ingredients to a medium sauce pan and stir well.
  • Bring to a boil and cook for 5 minutes, then let cool while cake is baking.
  • Let cool for 15 minutes then poke holes into the bottom of the cake with a fork, and pour in the glaze ⅓ at a time waiting for it to soak all the way in before you pour the next part in.

Nutrition

Calories: 610kcal | Carbohydrates: 74g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 31g | Saturated Fat: 16g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 123mg | Sodium: 202mg | Potassium: 174mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 54g | Vitamin A: 849IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 67mg | Iron: 2mg

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Chef’s Note

This cake is full of rum flavor. You shouldn’t substitute light rum in this cake, the spiced flavor of dark rum works so much better. The alcohol in the rum cooks off during the baking process but the rum glaze does keep a bit of alcohol content. Boil the rum with the water and sugar if you want to reduce the alcohol content. There are also some non-alcoholic substitutes in the variations section of this post.

Table of contents

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About this Recipe

All you need is some ripe bananas, dark rum, and few pantry items to make a show stopping banana cake recipe. The buttery rum glaze on this Banana Rum Cake a simple topping that brings out so much flavor and keeps your cake extra moist.

Serving Ideas

If you want to tone down the rum flavor, skip the glaze and frost your cake with Cream Cheese Frosting or drizzle it with Chocolate Ganache. Serve your cake with a scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream, it’s like bananas foster taste without setting a pan on fire!

How to Store

  • Serve: Cover your cake with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and keep at room temperature for up to 3 days. 
  • Store: You can refrigerate the cake for about a week. The glaze will harden a bit, so reheat a slice in the microwave or leave at room temperature until the glaze softens.
  • Freeze: Freeze your banana cake tightly covered in plastic wrap or in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw on the counter before serving.

Variations

  • Roasted Bananas: Place 3 unpeeled bananas on a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees until completely black, about 20 minutes.
  • Chocolate Chips: Chocolate and banana are a natural winner. Stir in 1 cup dark chocolate chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips, or white chocolate chips to your cake batter.
  • Banana Apple: Add a cup of grated green apples (peeled) to your cake batter before baking. Serve with a side of warm Apple Pie Filling and Whipped Cream.
  • Non-Alcoholic: If you don’t want to cook with rum, you can still get an incredibly moist cake by substituting apple juice or orange juice. If you want the rum flavor without the alcohol, use buttermilk for the rum and add a teaspoon rum extract.
  • Cupcakes: Make individual Banana Rum Cakes by baking in muffin tin. Line muffin tin with cupcake liners and fill cups 2/3 full. Bake for 18-22 minutes and frost with Buttercream Frosting for a kid-friendly topping.
  • Cake Mix: You can use other favorite box cake mixes. Try a Chocolate Cake mix or a lemon boxed cake mix. Or try out this easy hack of adding bananas right into your cake mix (Bonus points if you also roast the bananas):
    • ½ cup sour cream, 2 large eggs, 2/3 cup dark rum, 1 ½ cups mashed bananas, 15.25 package yellow cake mix, ¼ teaspoon baking soda, 1 cup walnuts, chopped
    • Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray 10 cup bundt pan with baking spray. Whisk together the sour cream and eggs until smooth, then whisk in the rum and bananas. Add in the cake mix and baking soda until just combined then fold in the walnuts. Pour into the bundt pan and bake for 60-65 minutes then glaze with the rum glaze recipe below.

More Yummy Boozy Desserts

Collage of a bundt cake shown whole and sliced

Photos used in previous versions of the post:

Half of a homemade cake on a cake stand
Cake slice on a plate with a banana slice and walnut
Bundt cake pictured top down

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. Oh my goodness. I added chopped pecans and golden raisins. Used Kracken spiced rum. Best rum cake ever. Be careful. Very addictive.

    Reply

  5. YUM! This came out wonderfully-we devoured it, as did the family we shared it with. I will definitely make this again!

    Reply

  7. I made this on Sunday for my neighbors who have been having a rough time. They loved it and said it made their day. Thanks for the great recipe!

    Reply

  9. I had a rum cake in Cozumel and fell in love. Since then I was wondering to make it. This is perfect!

    Reply