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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My Banana Coconut Cake Origin Story

What’s so crazy is I was thinking I wanted a banana and coconut profile for my birthday cake and as I was doing my regular check-ins on my favorite food blogs, Sugarologie posted a recipe for a coconut banana bread!

It was a sign.

Sort of a con with Sugarologie is that she can use specialty ingredients that people don’t really have on hand.

This recipe uses coconut cream powder, which I don’t know what else I’d use it for besides this. But, having extra packets was something I’d deal with because this recipe is worth trying out for me.

Of course, you could reconstitute it for when you’re making Thai curry but that’s about all I can think of!

Why Coconut Cream Powder?

Banana is a strong flavor and because regular coconut cream is liquid — there’s going to be too much water in the cake batter, diluting the coconut flavor.

So, coconut cream powder will bring the flavor and only the flavor (I mean there’s fats that do stuff, but you know what I mean).

I did add a mix of sweetened and unsweetened coconut for texture and a little boost in flavor, but don’t get it twisted that you don’t taste a strong punch of coconut in the cake itself!

If I were to make this again, I would blitz it in the food processor for a hot second or two for a more fine and chewy texture, but it’s not necessary.

Banana Coconut Cake Recipe

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

Ingredients

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

Method

1. Mash the banana until it reaches an applesauce-like consistency; set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the brown sugar and room-temperature eggs. Mix on high speed for 2–3 minutes.

3. Add the canola oil and mix on high speed for 1 minute.

4. Add the Thai coconut cream powder and salt. Continue mixing on high speed until the mixture is completely smooth and slightly paler.

5. Mix in the mashed bananas until fully incorporated.

6. In a small bowl, sift together the AP flour and baking powder. Hand-whisk for 30 seconds.

7. Add HALF of the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix on low speed until just combined.

8. Fold in HALF of the sweetened and unsweetened coconut.

9. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

10. Fold in the remaining coconut.

11. Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s).

12. Bake at 400°F for 5 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 350°F.

13. Continue baking for 25-32 minutes.

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. Add the room-temperature cream cheese and the first portion of the room-temperature heavy whipping cream to a mixing bowl. Mix on low speed until smooth.

2. Gradually add the remaining heavy whipping cream and increase to medium-high speed. Continue mixing until soft peaks form.

3. With the mixer on low, gradually add the sifted powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the mixture thickens to a spreadable, sour-cream-like texture.

4. Add the lemon juice, vanilla extract, and salt.

5. Switch to a hand whisk and whisk until the desired final texture is reached.

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
• 134.17 g Heavy Whipping Cream
• 0.58 g Salt
• 2.33g Vanilla Extract

Method

1. Finely chop the white chocolate and place it in the bowl of a stand mixer; set aside.

2. In a small saucepan, combine the heavy whipping cream and salt. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat.

3. Pour the hot cream mixture over the chopped white chocolate. Whisk until fully melted and smooth.

4. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours, or until thoroughly chilled.

5. Add the vanilla extract, then whisk (stand mixer or hand whisk) until the mixture thickens to a sour-cream-like texture.

6. Switch to a hand whisk and continue whisking until the desired final texture is reached.

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 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 that I found.

For this cake, I highly recommend the latter. It worked better and was AMAZING!

WANT MORE CONVERTED RECIPES?

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

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