I always make a mini cake for my birthday and this year I decided on a banana coconut cake.

I’ve been loving my 4-inch cake pans and the Cake Pan Converter Spreadsheet I made for myself years ago saves me time and time again because I can hunt for the best recipe — not just one that fits my pan size.

I used to make 6-inch layer cakes but I’ve found that even that’s too much cake for my little family. I would freeze them but at the end of the day, we still have to eat it and sometimes I would rather eat something else for leftovers.

This 4-inch banana coconut cake serves 4 small slices. Although slicing in 2 would be my preferences, haha.

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Banana Coconut Cake Recipe

This recipe makes two 4-inch cake layers. Based on the Coconut Banana Bread by Sugarologie.

Ingredients

• 186.67g Banana
• 93.85g Brown Sugar
• 51.85g Eggs
• 57.04g Canola Oil
• 31.11g Thai Coconut Cream Powder
• 3.11g Salt
• 124.44g AP Flour
• 5.70g Baking Powder
• 31.11g Sweetened Coconut
• 20.74g Unsweetened Coconut

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 350°F.
2. Prepare your two 4″ round cake pans with oil and parchment paper.
3. In a mixing bowl, mash the bananas until they reach an applesauce-like texture and set aside.
4. With a whisk and a mixing bowl or stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add white sugar, molasses, and eggs. Mix until pale and fluffy.
5. Add in canola oil. Mix in until combined.
6. Add coconut cream powder and salt. Mix in until completely smooth and slightly paler than before.
7. Add in mashed bananas. Mix in until combined. Set aside.
8. In another mixing bowl, combine AP flour and baking powder through a fine sieve. Mix until well combined.
9. Add in half of the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined.
10. Fold in half of the sweetened and unsweetened coconut into the batter until just combined.
11. Alternate adding and mixing in the remaining dry ingredients and the remaining coconut until just combined.
12. Add the 300g batter to prepared baking pans.
13. Bake at 425°F for 5 minutes.
14. Lower the oven temperature to 350°F and bake for another 28-35 minutes, until golden-brown.
15. Set aside to cool completely.
16. Optional: Wrap in plastic wrap while warm and freeze until ready to frost.

Don’t have the baking pan I’m using?

Fret not! For I am sharing the Google Sheet I created to scale the Banana Coconut Cake free of charge to you 🙂

I used the Cake Pan Converter Spreadsheet because I didn’t want to buy every pan under the sun or limit myself to certain cake pan sizes when looking up recipes.

When I find a recipe I want to try, I can input the original measurements and let the spreadsheet calculate everything for me!

Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

This recipe frosts two 4-inch cake rounds. Recipe adapted from Sugarologie.

Ingredients

• 77.78 g Cream Cheese (room temp)
• 15.56 g Heavy Whipping Cream (room temp)
• 67.41 g Heavy Whipping Cream (room temp)
• 20.74 g Powdered Sugar (sifted)
• 2.59 g Lemon Juice
• 2.59 g Vanilla Extract
• 0.52 g Salt

Method

1. With a whisk and a mixing bowl or stand mixer with the whisk attachment, cream the cream cheese and the first portion of heavy whipping cream until very smooth.
2. Incrementally whisk in the second portion of heavy whipping cream until soft peaks form.
3. Incrementally whisk in the sifted powdered sugar until it reaches a spreadable sour cream-like texture.
4. Whisk in the lemon juice, vanilla extract, and salt until the desired texture is reached. If the mixture becomes over-whipped and grainy, whisk in a splash of cream.

Frosting a different sized cake?

Here is the Google Sheet for the Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting for over 25 cake sizes — up to 4 layers!

Whipped White Chocolate Ganache Frosting Recipe

This recipe frosts two 4-inch cake rounds. Recipes adapted from Sugarologie and Scientifically Sweet.

Ingredients

• 54.44 g White Chocolate Bar
• 134.17 g Heavy Whipping Cream
• 0.58 g Salt
• 2.33g Vanilla Extract

Method

1. Finely chop the white chocolate, transfer it to a mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer. Set aside.
2. In a saucepan over medium-low heat, bring the heavy whipping cream and salt to a simmer until the milk starts to steam and tiny bubbles start forming at the edges.
3. Pour the scalded milk over the finely chopped white chocolate and let sit for 2 minutes.
4. Whisk in the vanilla extract until the white chocolate is fully melted and combined.
5. Chill the mixture with a whisk or whisk attachment in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
6. Whisk vigorously until the mixture reaches a sour-cream-like texture.
7. Continue whisking (or whisk by hand if using a stand mixer) to your desired frosting texture. If the mixture becomes over-whipped and grainy, whisk in a splash of cream .

Frosting a different sized cake?

Here is the Google Sheet for the Whipped White Chocolate Ganache Frosting for over 25 cake sizes — up to 4 layers!

Which frosting is better?

My birthday is a week before my dad’s so I actually had extra cake to make his the following Friday.

I thought the tangy cream cheese would pair well with the banana coconut cake and it did. But, I did feel the tanginess overpowered the bread.

So, I opted for a vanilla ganache whipped cream frosting, which tastes just like vanilla ice cream!

I believe both Sugarologie and Scientifically Sweet have a recipe for this and they’re both the same — they just have different quantities of white chocolate. I ended up just doing an average of the two.

For this cake, I highly recommend the white chocolate variation. It worked better and tastes AMAZING!

WANT MORE CONVERTED RECIPES?

Check out the Recipe Library to see what other bakes you can make in over 25 baking pan sizes!