Best Banana Pudding Pound Cake with Amaretto Liqueur is from scratch and has banana pudding, amaretto (almond) liqueur, cream cheese, and Nilla wafers. All the classic banana pudding ingredients in a totally homemade pound cake recipe.
I combined two traditionally Southern and perpetually favorite desserts into one cake! Yep! Southern Pound Cake and Banana Pudding crashed into each other and the result was a beautiful thing!
If you’re new to Call Me PMc, I have tested and shared numerous pound cake recipes including Whipping Cream Pound Cake, Sour Cream Pound Cake, Cream Cheese Pound Cake, Amaretto Pound Cake, and Chocolate Pound Cake.
I’ve tested many plain pound cakes as well as developed some unusual pound cakes that have quickly become reader favorites. You can see them all and get the recipes here, Pound Cakes Reviewed. Let me just tell you they are all good!
BEST BANANA PUDDING POUND CAKE WITH AMARETTO LIQUEUR
This Southern pound cake has classic components. It’s buttery, with a fine crumb, and crusty top. It’s flavored with banana pudding in both the cake and the glaze. Also, both are spiked with Amaretto (almond) liqueur. Finally, I finished it with Nilla wafer crumbs both for taste, texture, and garnish.
Also, I garnished the top of the cake with mint leaves and banana slices. I recommend waiting until just before you serve it to garnish with bananas slices. They tend to turn brown quickly.
TIPS AND SUBS
- If you’re new to baking, especially baking pound cakes, I recommend you read this post, How to Bake the Perfect Pound Cake.
- I also recommend that you calibrate your oven once a year, How to Calibrate your Oven.
- I’ve tested and re-tested these pound cake recipes. The majority of the time if they turn out dry they’ve either been baked too long or the flour wasn’t measured correctly. (see below)
- Make sure your butter is at room temperature and soft. ‘Soft’ means it will indent easily when mashed with your finger, but not be oily.
- For baking, it is recommended you use unsalted butter. You can use salted, you may want to adjust adding any additional salt to the cake. Do not use margarine or a butter substitute. You can use solid vegetable shortening. I recommend only Crisco brand.
MORE TIPS FOR BEST BANANA PUDDING POUND CAKE WITH AMARETTO LIQUEUR
- Use full-fat cream cheese. As well, it needs to be at room temperature.
- I use large eggs for my pound cakes, if you have another size of eggs adjust the amount.
- To add banana flavor to this cake I used a 5.1-ounce box of banana cream instant pudding mix, regular – not sugar-free. You add just the mix – do not make the pudding.
- As well, I used pure banana extract. I prefer pure extract over imitation. If you don’t have or can’t find banana extract locally, you can purchase banana extract here. You’ll be giving up some banana flavor but you can use vanilla extract if you don’t want to purchase banana extract.
HOW TO MEASURE FLOUR CORRECTLY
Measure carefully, especially the flour. How do you measure flour? To correctly measure flour, first, sift the flour. Then using a spoon or scoop lightly scoop flour out of its container into a measuring cup. Continue filling the cup until it is overflowing, then using the back of a butter knife level the flour. Scooping the measuring cup directly into the flour to fill can result in up to 25% more flour than lightly spooning the flour into the measuring cup. More flour in a recipe will make it dense and dry.
More pound cake recipes
- Fig Preserve Pound Cake
- Sour Cream Pound Cake
- Old Fashioned Blue Ribbon Pound Cake
- Strawberry & Cream Pound Cake
- Amaretto Peach Upside Down Pound Cake
- Fresh Strawberry Pound Cake
BEST BANANA PUDDING POUND CAKE WITH AMARETTO LIQUEUR
Ingredients
FOR THE CAKE
- 3 cups all-purpose flour sifted then measured
- 5.1 ounce box banana cream instant pudding mix, do not make the pudding
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
- 1 and ⅔ cups bananas mashed, about 2 small bananas
- 2 tablespoons Amaretto liqueur sub almond, banana, or vanilla extract
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 and ½ cup butter unsalted (see post for subs)
- 1 tablespoon banana extract like this
- 3 cups granulated sugar
- 6 large eggs at room temperature
FOR THE GLAZE
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream whipped
- ¾ cup powdered sugar sifted then measured
- 2 tablespoons Amaretto liqueur or almond, banana, or vanilla extract
- 6 crushed vanilla wafers
- mint leaves and banana slices for garnish
Instructions
- Please see post above for substitutions and recommendations
FOR THE CAKE
- Preheat oven to 325° F. (If you haven't calibrated your oven recently, I recommend you calibrate your oven once a year. For info read: How to Calibrate your Oven.)
- Coat a 10-inch, 12-cup tube pan or bundt pan with solid vegetable shortening and sugar or Wilton cake release spray.
- In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the heavy whipping cream until stiff peak stage. Spoon it into another bowl and set aside to add to the mixture later.
- In the same bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy. Add granulated sugar and beat on medium speed until the mixture is fluffy. Stop mixer and scrape sides. Mix again.
- As the butter, cream cheese, and sugar are mixing, remove 2 tablespoons of the instant pudding mix and reserve it for the glaze. Combine the remaining instant pudding, flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in another bowl. Whisk to combine. Set aside.
- In yet another bowl crack your eggs and add the banana extract and mashed bananas.
- Alternately add the flour mixture (instant pudding, flour, baking soda, baking powder, & salt.) with the eggs mixture (egg, banana extract, & mashed bananas), beginning and ending with the flour mixture. (So you'll add 1/3 flour mixture, 1/2 eggs mixture, 1/3 flour mixture, 1/2 eggs, 1/3 flour mixture.)
- Stop the mixer, scrape the sides, and mix again.
- By hand with a large spatula, fold in the whipped cream. This makes a lot of batter. Take your time and carefully fold until the whipped cream is mixed well.
- Spoon into your prepared pan and smooth the top.
- Bake for 1 hour 30 to 45 minutes at 325°F. Don't open the door for the first hour that it cooks. Text with a wooden pick the cake is done with no crumbs or dry crumbs remain on the pick when inserted into the center of the cake. (As well, you can test with a thermometer, the internal temperature of the cake will be 200°F when fully cooked.)
- Allow cake to cool on a wire rack for 20 minutes before inverting on a tray to cool completely. Wait until the cake is completely cool before frosting or glazing.
FOR THE GLAZE
- Mix the ½ cup heavy cream, ¾ cup powdered sugar, and 2 Tablespoons Amaretto. Whisk until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is smooth. You can add more cream if needed.
- Spoon over your cooled cake allow the glaze to drip down the sides.
- For this cake, I recommend waiting until you're ready to serve before garnishing it. Garnish with crushed vanilla wafers, banana slices, and mint.
- Store in an airtight cake taker either on the counter or in the refrigerator. It will stay fresh on the counter for 3 to 4 days and in the refrigerator for 5 to 7 days. See notes above for freezing.
Nutrition
Karen says
The directions for this cake were really confusing. The 3rd step says beat butter and add sugar and then in step 7 it says beat butter and cream cheese and step 8 says add the sugar. Not sure what that meant, but having baked for over 60 years I attempted it. The cake did not bake. A pick came out clean at 1hr and 50 minutes, but after cooling completely, my husband cut it and the inside was still pretty raw. It was more work than most cakes, like beating the heavy cream until stiff peaks, but it sounded delicious. It was an expensive mistake, butter, heavy cream, pudding mix, 6 eggs and I had to throw it away. I have made many of your cakes and things over the years and this has never happened. Since this cake has a lot of ingredients and steps, my husband followed me through it. Not sure why, but this cake didn’t look at all like the picture and it just wasn’t cooked through.
Paula says
So sorry, the steps had been duplicated. I have them fixed now. It’s a huge cake and does take a long time (longer than my other pound cakes) to cook.
Karen says
This cake looks yummy! Do you think a chocolate frosting/glaze would work? My family loves chocolate and banana together.
Paula says
Yes chocolate would be wonderful.
Jennifer says
OMG I love banana pudding and this is so much better. It was easy to make and was so moist! And the flavor was amazing! I’m making my second one right now!
Paula says
👏 Yay! Thank you! I think I could drink that icing! 😂
Robin Donovan says
This looks amazing! I love bananas but don’t care for amaretto. I might substitute a hazelnut liquer.