Banana Bread Bake Off: From Scratch vs. Cake Mix Method
There are many different ways to make banana bread, each with varying degrees of difficulty depending on the flavor and density desired. Some folks prefer banana bread that is more like cake, while others want the texture to be crumbly and the flavor less sweet. I recently learned that you can make a loaf of banana bread quite easily by using a yellow cake mix in place of the traditional dry ingredients. Is it too sweet? Does it taste like cake instead of bread?
In order to compare the cake mix method to a from scratch recipe, I made them at the same time so I could compare the loaves at each step.
The Recipes
The loaves of banana bread I made were gluten free, but they could easily be made with your flour of choice or a regular cake mix. I prefer Krusteaz brand gluten free flour and cake mixes if you are going the gluten free route. My favorite regular cake mix is Duncan Hines.
In addition, you could swap out the butter for a non-dairy butter and use flax eggs to make the recipes plant based. You can also personalize your loaves with anything from oats and nuts to chocolate chips. I baked my loaves at the same time (and rotated them halfway through), so I cooked them at 335 degrees. I also lined my loaf pans with parchment paper. Your loaves will have creases if you use parchment paper, but it makes it very easy to pop them out of the pans.
Traditional Method
- 1.5 cups flour (traditional or gluten free with xanthum gum)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 egg
- ¾ cup sugar
- 4 tablespoons melted butter
- 3 mashed very ripe bananas
- Optional mix-ins/toppings: chopped walnuts, chocolate chips
- Heat oven 325 degrees. Grease loaf pan or line with parchment paper.
- Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.
- Combine egg, sugar, butter, and bananas in a large bowl and mix until smooth.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir to combine.
- Pour into prepared pan.
- Bake 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool 10 minutes in pan before transferring to cooling rack.
Cake Mix Method
- 1 box yellow cake mix (traditional or gluten free)
- 2-3 mashed very ripe bananas
- ½ cup softened butter
- 3 eggs
- Optional mix-ins/toppings: chopped walnuts, chocolate chips
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease loaf pan or line with parchment paper.
- Beat cake mix, mashed bananas, butter, and eggs with electric mixer until fully mixed.
- Pour into prepared pan.
- Bake 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Cool 10 minutes in pan before transferring to cooling rack.
The Comparison
Both methods produced tasty banana bread, but with slight differences.
As expected, there are far fewer ingredients for the cake mix method. This makes it quick and easy. The cake mix loaf was sweet, but not overly sweet like I expected. It had a soft and fluffy texture and tasted more like banana flavoring than fresh banana. This loaf was more like “cake” than the other loaf, but it still had a banana bread texture. It was yellow in color and it took slightly longer to bake.
The loaf made from scratch was denser. It was slightly brown in color. This loaf had a deeper banana flavor. It was just as sweet as the cake mix loaf, but in a different way. It was a sweetness from the fruit, not from the sugar.
Overall, both recipes made delicious loaves of banana bread. The cake mix method is an amazing hack if you need to throw a loaf together quickly without having to measure any dry ingredients. It does not look like a traditional banana bread, but it has a sweet banana flavor. The homemade loaf is the traditional comfort food you might expect from banana bread. Both are great options. My husband preferred the cake mix loaf, while my nephew preferred the homemade loaf.
Have you ever made banana bread with a cake mix? How do you think it compares to a loaf made from scratch?
Katie G.