Banana Pound Cake with Chocolate Glaze

Super moist and melt-in-your-mouth banana pound cake served with a rich chocolate glaze and perfect for any cake event!

If you’re looking to find your new favorite cake, I have excellent news for ya: you’re in the right place today.

Basically this cake is banana bread meets pound cake and the whole deal gets covered with chocolate glaze. I don’t think there’s anyone out there who could not be into this plan.

I meaaaaaan…talk about a cake showstopper! That’s a slice fit for a king down there.

Pound cake is one of those cakes that I believe every home baker should have a banger recipe of! This cake today might be a little off the beaten path from your traditional pound cake but I can confirm it’s just as easy as a classic and will knock everybody’s socks off.

If this is your first time baking pound cake, no sweat whatsoever! I’m walking you through each and every step in great detail.

This Pound Cake features…

• A moist and buttery texture
• Lots of banana flavor
• A rich chocolate glaze drizzled on top

Making the Pound Cake

(scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe)

Ingredients You Will Need

• Unsalted butter
• Granulated sugar
• Brown sugar
• Vanilla extract
• Eggs
• All-purpose flour
• Baking powder
• Cinnamon
• Nutmeg
• Kosher salt
• 2% or skim milk
• Bananas
• Semisweet chocolate chips
• Coconut oil

Choosing Your Pan

You will need a 10-inch round fluted tube pan (also called a Bundt pan) for this cake. Prep the pan for baking by greasing well and lightly flouring so the cake releases easily later.

Don’t have a tube pan? You can also bake this cake into two 9×5 loaf pans. Be aware that bake time will vary if you go this route so keep a close eye on the cakes during baking.

Tips for Perfect Pound Cake

1. Cream softened butter with sugar – this builds the fat base to the pound cake.
2. Bring eggs and milk to room temperature – this will help these ingredients mix cohesively into the butter.
3. Add eggs one at a time to butter mixture – beat well after each egg to incorporate it into the butter and build the structure of the cake.
4. Measure flour correctly – I use the spoon-and-level technique for measuring flour as this will prevent over-measuring your flour. Use a spoon to scoop flour into the measuring cup, then level with the back of a knife.
5. Use ripe bananas – ripe bananas will mash smoothly and infuse the cake with lots of sweet banana flavor.
6. Test cake with a skewer for doneness – the cake is done when a skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean. It will take 55-60 minutes for the cake to bake fully.
7. Allow cake to cool 10 minutes in pan – if you let the pound cake sit too long in the pan, the bottom will turn damp. Run a knife around all the edges of the cake and carefully invert onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Recipe Variations

Try these ideas for a different twist on this cake.

• Add nuts – toast 1/2 cup pecans or walnuts and fold into batter.
• Make it extra chocolate-y – fold 3/4 cup dark or semisweet chocolate chips into batter.
• Add fruit – fold 1 cup blueberries, raspberries, or diced strawberries into batter.
• Use a different glaze – skip the chocolate glaze and use a simple powdered sugar or cream cheese glaze instead. You can also skip the glaze entirely and just do a dusting of powdered sugar.

Storing and Freezing Cake

I recommend waiting to add the chocolate glaze until just before serving if you plan to store the cake for awhile before serving. Allow the cake to cool completely, then store in an airtight container at room temperature 4 days.

To freeze cake, allow to cool completely (do not top with glaze) wrap cake well, and freeze up to 2 months. Thaw cake completely at room temperature and top with glaze for serving.

If you can get away without going back for a second slice of this moist, buttery goodness PLEASE share your secrets with the class! The intense banana flavor paired with the rich denseness of the crumb and all that chocolate magic on top is just too good all together.

Save this recipe using the ‘save to recipe box’ button below. If you make it, please let us know! Leave a comment + star rating below, or take a photo and tag it on Instagram with #wholeandheavenlyoven.

Try these other knock-your-socks-off cakes next!

• Poppyseed Lemon Olive Oil Cake
• Raspberry Orange Ricotta Cake
• Peach Upside Down Cake

This post was updated with new recipe tips and photos on 6/3/25.