What is the Difference Between Banana Bread and Cake

The main difference between banana bread and cake is that banana bread is firmer and denser in texture than banana cake.

Banana bread and cake are delicacies you can make with overripe bananas. There are many similarities between these two recipes; however, they are not the same. As their names suggest, banana bread is a type of bread made with mashed bananas, while banana cake is a type of cake made with banana as the main ingredient.

Key Areas Covered

1. What is Banana Bread 
    – Definition, Ingredients
2. What is Banana Cake
     – Definition, Ingredients
3. What is the Difference Between Banana Bread and Cake
     – Comparison of Key Differences

Key Terms

Bananas, Banana Bread, Banana Cake

What is Banana Bread

Banana bread is a type of bread using bananas as a primary ingredient. It is typically a sweet, moist quick bread. It can be made with heavy flours like whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour. However, the main ingredient in this recipe is ripe bananas. It’s time to bake banana bread when the skins of bananas develop freckles and start to blacken. Riper bananas (ripened to the point where they are totally black and mush) will make the bread even more strongly flavoured and richer. At this stage, they are soft. Moreover, you can prolong the life of overripe bananas by freezing them or putting them in plastic bags and putting them in the fridge.

When compared to banana cake, banana bread is denser, heavier, and less sweet. It’s also great for slicing and toasting. Moreover, banana bread doesn’t usually have icing or frosting, like banana cakes.

What is Banana Cake

Banana cake is a type of cake made with banana as the main ingredient and typical cake ingredients (like flour, eggs, butter, margarine or oil, sugar, and baking soda). Bananas can be mashed or pureed using a food processor and directly mixed into the cake batter. It’s also possible to garnish the cake with bananas. Banana cakes sometimes call for lighter flour like pastry flour and cake flour. Furthermore, the bananas used for this recipe should be overly ripe and browned; using unripe or slightly ripe bananas won’t give the same rich taste.

Banana cake can be made in different manners, like layer cakes, muffins, and cupcakes. Asian cuisines like Indonesian and Chinese cuisines make a special type of steamed banana cake. When compared to banana bread, cake is sweeter, softer and less dense.

Difference Between Banana Bread and Cake

Definition

Banana bread is a type of bread that uses bananas as a primary ingredient while banana cake is a type of cake made with banana as the main ingredient and typical cake ingredients.

Texture

Banana bread is firmer, denser, and heavier than banana cake.

Sweetness

Moreover, banana breads are usually less sweet than banana cakes. They also don’t have icing or frosting like banana cakes.

Flour

Banana bread can use heavier flours, like all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour, whereas banana cake recipes sometimes require lighter flours like pastry flour or cake flour.

Conclusion

As their names suggest, banana bread is a type of bread made with mashed bananas, while banana cake is a type of cake made with banana as the main ingredient. The main difference between banana bread and cake is that banana bread is firmer and denser in texture than banana cake.

Reference:

1. “Banana Cake.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 13 Mar. 2020, Available here.
2. “Banana Bread.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 4 June 2020, Available here.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Freshly baked banana bread” By Ginny – originally posted to Flickr as freshly baked (CC BY-SA 2.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “4628278” (CC0) via Pixabay