I’m totally in love with these mini pecan and banana bundt cakes with a tangy lemon flavoured cream cheese frosting. They make a nice change from the normal banana bread that we always seem to make when we have spotty old bananas to use up. The pecan nuts add an element of crunch and the tangy lemon cheese frosting really turns them into something special.
**As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.**
Mini pecan and banana bundt cakes
One of the most popular recipes on my website is this easy banana walnut bread, so it was a bit of a no-brainer to adapt it to make these pecan and banana bundt cakes.
To be quite honest, it didn’t take much adapting – all I did was swap out the walnuts for chopped pecans and cut down on the baking time, and I was delighted with the results.
The pecan and banana bundt cakes turned out perfectly! Moist and fluffy with a delightful crunch from the pecans and a delicious banana flavour.
All they needed as a finishing touch was the addition of a tangy lemon and cream cheese frosting.
The end result was a muffin-sized cake with a hole in the middle, filled with the delicious frosting, and topped with half pecan nut.
How much batter should I put in the bundt pan?
The simple answer is – it depends!
If you prefer your bundts to have the hole running all the way through then you should only fill them halfway so that the batter just reaches the top of the inner spike.
I wanted to be able to fill my pecan and banana bundts with the frosting (without it running out of the bottom) and so I filled my bundt pan all the way to the rim. You can see in the picture below what I am talking about.
If you prefer a more elegant cake that you can just drizzle with frosting then by all means make them smaller so that the hole runs all the way through. You may find that you need to cook these for 2 or 3 minutes less.
These pecan and banana bundt cakes are quite substantial and are ideal for popping into lunch boxes to fill you up until dinner time! Smaller ones are more suited to an elegant afternoon tea or mid-morning snack 🙂 . You can decide for yourself how you would like to make them.
So without further ado, let’s get onto the recipe.
Ingredients
This recipe makes 8 larger (i.e. filled to the top) bundt cakes, or 12 to 14 smaller ones (ie the hole running all the way through).
**You can get the complete list of ingredients and full instructions for making these pecan and banana bundt cakes on the printable recipe card at the end of this post**
- Bananas – these should be as ripe as possible because they provide the moisture content of the batter. If there are any dark brown patches on the bananas cut them away and discard them before mashing the bananas. You will need approximately 2 cups of well-mashed bananas for this recipe.
- Flour – I’ve used plain all-purpose flour (or cake flour as it is known in South Africa) and added baking powder for the rise. If you prefer to use self-raising flour this is fine – just leave out the baking powder.
- Butter – this should be at room temperature to make for easier mixing. I’ve also made this recipe using yellow baking margarine with no problems so you can substitute if you wish.
- Sugar – caster sugar dissolves more easily into the butter so there’s less work involved. If you only have granulated sugar you can use that but be prepared for a bit more mixing.
- Egg – you will need 1 large egg, but if your eggs are very small you can use 2.
- Pecan nuts – you will need three-quarters of a cup of chopped pecans, plus additional half-pecans for decoration.
- Vanilla essence – for flavouring. This is optional.
- Salt – also optional but I would recommend adding at least half a teaspoon.
Equipment
I like to use a silicone bundt pan for this recipe because it doesn’t stick and the buns can be removed easily.
This is the one I use. I couldn’t find the exact same one on Amazon, but here’s a link to a similar bundt pan. What I like about the ones on Amazon is that you get 2 pieces, so you can make a dozen mini bundts at a time.
These are also easy to clean, and you can use them over and over again.
What to do
This is a really easy batter to mix.
- Mash the bananas with a fork until most of the lumps have been removed. Chop the pecans into small pieces -slightly larger than a grain of cooked rice. Set these aside until you are ready to mix them in.
- Using an electric hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until it is light and fluffy, and pale in colour. If you don’t have a hand mixer, just use a wooden spoon.
- Add the egg and vanilla essence and continue to whisk until the egg is fully incorporated (image 1).
- Now tip in the flour, chopped pecan nuts, bananas, flour, salt, and baking powder. Use a wooden spoon to mix until everything is well combined and you have a thick batter (image 3).
- Spray the silicone mould with one or two squirts of cooking oil spray. I realise the mould is non-stick, but there are so many ridges in there and I like to be safe rather than sorry.
- Spoon the batter into the mould until the inner spike is just covered and the batter is level with the top of the mould (image 1). If you prefer the hole to come all the way through the bundt cakes, then only fill three-quarters full and leave the top of the inner spike exposed.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven (190C / 375F) for 20 minutes until the tops of the cakes are golden, and a toothpick inserted into the thickest part of the cake comes out cleanly. If there is still a little batter sticking to the toothpick, leave the cakes in the oven for one or two minutes longer (image 2). These cakes to not rise a lot, so they will just have a gentle curve on top rather than a pointed dome like a muffin.
- Allow the cakes to cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes before removing them (image 3).
Mix the frosting and ice the bundt cakes
This frosting is really easy to make and goes so well with the flavours of the pecans and bananas.
- Soft cream cheese – you can use any brand of soft cream cheese. If you are a Philadelphia fan you can use that, but my local supermarket does a really good ‘house brand’ that I like to use.
- Icing sugar – depending on where you live in the world you may know this as confectioner’s sugar or powdered sugar.
- Lemon essence – I’ve used lemon essence rather than lemon juice because you only need one teaspoon to get a strong lemony flavour. You can use lemon juice but the extra liquid will turn the icing too runny, and you will have to add extra icing sugar to compensate.
To make the frosting, just combine all the ingredients in a small mixing bowl until you have a smooth thick paste.
Fill the holes in the pecan and banana bundt cakes with the icing, and top with half a pecan nut.
You will find it easiest to do this with a piping bag. If you don’t have a piping bag, just spoon the mixture into a small freezer bag and snip off the corner before squeezing the icing into the hole.
If you’ve made the cakes smaller, ie with a hole running all the way through, you may just want to drizzle the icing over the cakes. In this case, thin the frosting mixture down slightly with the addition of a little milk, one teaspoon at a time until you have a more runny consistency.
If you’d like to be notified of any new recipes, why not subscribe to my newsletter? As a thank-you gift, you will receive a free recipe e-book containing some of my most popular cakes and desserts.
Questions
Yes, you can freeze the unfrosted bundt cakes in a well-sealed plastic container in the freezer for up to 4 months. Let them defrost and come to room temperature before adding the frosting.
Because the icing is made with cream cheese I would store them in a covered container in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days. However, they do taste best when eaten at room temperature, so take them out of the refrigerator half an hour before you plan to eat them.
My cakes took 20 minutes because the pan was filled to the brim. If you only fill your bundt pan three-quarters of the way then you will need to check them after 15 minutes.
No, you can bake these cakes in a normal muffin pan – the cooking time will be between 20 and 25 minutes, so start checking after 20 minutes.
You can also bake this recipe as a loaf in a 4″ x 8″ loaf tin – cooking time will be between 50 minutes and 1 hour.
In both cases check for doneness by inserting a wooden toothpick into the cake – if the cake is cooked the toothpick will come out cleanly.
Pin for later
If you’d like to try these pecan and banan bundt cakes yourself why not pin the recipe to one of your Pinterest boards so you can make it later. Just click the image below.
Other recipes
You may also like to try these other baking recipes:
- Fruit mincemeat star bread – made with fruit mincemeat, or swap it out for sultanas – just like a tear and share Chelsea bun.
- Zucchini and pistachio cake
- Coffee and walnut layer cake
- Carrot and walnut cake tray bake
- Fresh pear cream slice
- German bee sting cake
- Pineapple coconut cake
The recipe
Mini pecan and banana bundt cakes with lemon cheese frosting
(Click the stars to rate this recipe)
Ingredients
Cake batter
- ⅓ cup / 75 grams butter
- ¾ cup / 150 grams sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 1½ cups / 210 grams plain all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt optional
- 4 medium bananas mashed (approx 2 cups)
- ¾ cup / 70 grams pecan nuts chopped
Frosting
- 1 cup / 120 grams icing sugar
- ½ cup / 120 grams soft cream cheese
- 1 teaspoon lemon essence
Instructions
Cake Batter
- Preheat the oven to 190°C / 375°F
- Mash the bananas with a fork until most of the lumps have been removed. Set aside.4 medium bananas
- Chop the pecans into small pieces -slightly larger than a grain of cooked rice. Set aside.¾ cup / 70 grams pecan nuts
- Using an electric hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until it is light and fluffy, and pale in colour. If you don't have a hand mixer, just use a wooden spoon.⅓ cup / 75 grams butter, ¾ cup / 150 grams sugar
- Add the egg and vanilla essence and continue to whisk until the egg is fully incorporated.1 large egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- Tip in the flour, chopped pecan nuts, bananas, flour, salt, and baking powder. Use a wooden spoon to mix until everything is well combined and you have a thick batter,1½ cups / 210 grams plain all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, ¾ cup / 70 grams pecan nuts, 4 medium bananas
- Spray a silicone mould lightly with cooking spray.
- Spoon the batter into the mould until the inner spike is just covered and the batter is level with the top of the mould.
- Transfer the silicone mould onto a baking tray and place it in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.
- When the cakes are done a toothpick inserted into the thickest part of the cake will come out cleanly.
- Allow the cakes to cool in the pan before removing them.
Frosting
- Combine all the ingredients in a small mixing bowl until you have a smooth thick paste.1 cup / 120 grams icing sugar, ½ cup / 120 grams soft cream cheese, 1 teaspoon lemon essence
- Fill the holes in the pecan and banana bundt cakes with the icing, and top with half a pecan nut.
- Store in the refrigerator and allow to come to room tempeetaure before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutrition information has been calculated using an on-line calculator, and is intended for information and guidance purposes only. If the nutrition information is important to you, you should consider calculating it yourself, using your preferred tool.
If you made this recipe and enjoyed it, I’d love it if you could give me a star rating in the comments below. And if you’d like to get in touch, you can email me at [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you. And don’t forget to subscribe to my mailing list so you can grab yourself a copy of my FREE COOKBOOK!
If you’d like to continue browsing, just click on this link to all my recipes.
Leave a Reply