Banana Bars with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
These banana bars with whipped cream cheese frosting are moist, tender, and topped with thick, cream cheese frosting. Banana perfection!
I love banana bread. But what could be better than a warm, freshly made loaf of banana bread? Behold, I give you frosted banana bars. Moist, tender banana bars topped with thick, cream cheese frosting.
Wow, these were so good. I had never had banana bars until a few weeks ago after a friend brought some over. I searched the internet for a recipe and realized there are variations of these beauties everywhere.
Now that I’ve had these yummy treats, I admit I will be hard-pressed to use those icky, brown bananas for anything other than these bars. Delicious!
By the way, my mom gave me this cream cheese frosting recipe a long time ago and I had yet to use it until now.
I’ve never swapped out the butter in cream cheese frosting with whipped cream, but oh my, it was heavenly (remember I said heavenly not healthy).
Just like the banana bars, I don’t think I’ll ever make cream cheese frosting another way!
Banana Bars with Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients
Banana Bars:
- ½ cup (113 g) butter, softened
- 1 ½ cups (318 g) white sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup (227 g) sour cream
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups (284 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 cup (about 226 g) mashed ripe bananas, I used three ripe bananas
Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 1 (8-ounce) package (227 g) cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (212 g) white sugar (see note)
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
Instructions
- For the banana bars, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 10 x 15 inch jellyroll pan or one 9X13 pan and an additional 8X8 pan.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the sour cream and vanilla.
- Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl; stir into the batter. Finally, mix in the mashed banana. Spread evenly into the prepared pan(s).
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow bars to cool completely before frosting.
- For the frosting, in a large bowl combine cream cheese, sugar, salt and vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. Set aside. In another medium bowl, beat whipped cream until stiff peaks form (it helps to use a chilled bowl and chilled beaters). Fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture. Frost to your heart’s delight!
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: banana bars recipe from allrecipes.com
This combo of light banana cake and whipped cream cheese frosting is delightful. Definitely a new favorite!!
Another great recipe! I missed the part about using an 8×8 pan in addition to 9×13 so mine were thicker… so I cut it in half and use the whipped cream as filling! Turned out great cause it looked like slices of banana bread with filling instead of a cake. And I liked that the frosting was light and not too sweet! Def make again!
These were so good that they brought tears to my eyes and a whole lotta love to my belly.
Well…I loved the bars…I loved the frosting…and I really liked them together. My kids, unanimously decided they do not like the frosting at all, and do not like it on the bars for sure. I guess you cant please everyone! I encourage you to make both…but let people frost their own maybe?
Phenomenal recipe! That frosting…I could eat it with a spoon. I wonder if the frosting would do well on cinnamon rolls as well?!?
I made the bars this weekend and they were so yummy! I felt so fancy making my own cream cheese frosting too 🙂 Everyone I’ve shared with has loved it. So glad I made these!
Hey, Mel!
I just tried your recipe, but I substitute sour cream with plain yougurt, and used just 1 cup of sugar, 1cup of heavy cream. This is spectacular! I ve tried 3 cakes from your website and all of them will be on my list forever..Thank you so
I have made these several times and love them! My husband eats the 9×13 pan all by himself in less than a week! I just changed it up a little and dd pumpkin instead of banana and I’m excited to see how they taste! The batter was yum! Thanks for sharing the recipe 😉
I made these a couple years ago and still remember how fantastic they were. A huge hit at a potluck I took them to! If I wanted to put them in an 11×17 jelly roll pan would you suggest doubling or one and a halving the recipe?
It makes a pretty thick bar just as a single recipe so I’d probably only one and a half the recipe for a large, rimmed baking sheet.
I made some subpar banana bread today, so I wish I had these instead!
These look divine! But I just want to make them for our family…so could I 1/2 the recipe and put it in just a 9×13 pan? Thanks Mel! Also, your recipe for blueberry cheesecake pie is featured on our new blog!
Hi Kate – thanks for the recipe feature! You could probably halve this recipe in a 9X13-inch pan but the bars will be a bit thinner – just watch the baking time!
These are wonderful. I put a vanilla bean in the frostng and Wow!
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I have made it several times (by request) in just the last 2 weeks. I think it is my family’s new favorite!
I have a very similar recipe for banana bars, however I use a different frosting and often times I just cut them smaller, put the “frosting” in the middle as filling and top with another piece of the bar. Here’s mine (I’m a peanut butter lover so most of my desserts incorporate it!) 8 oz cream cheese, 1 c powdered sugar, 1/2 c. peanut butter, 1/4 c. milk, 1 smashed banana, and 4 tsp. cocoa powder. Very rich, but very good. Thanks for all your recipes, you’ve given me new inspirations!
Does the frosting require refrigerating after applied?
Jody – Yes I usually refrigerate these after frosting them.
also, i was wondering for how long does the frosting lasts because whipped cream even refrigerated is quite delicate and i would love if you could share some tips on how you keep it stable and stiff and how should i store the bars to keep them as fresh and good a possible! thank you soo much!
Danielle – I’ve never tried them as cupcakes so you will have to experiment. I’d cut down the baking time a bit. As for the frosting, I’ve left it in the fridge for a day or two with no problems. With the cream cheese in it, it tends to do ok in the fridge for a day or so. If you want a stabilized whipped cream (that doesn’t release a bit of liquid), you might need to google a recipe. Good luck!
hi mel, well i just found this recepie and im about to try it! but, i was wondering if i could turn them in to cupcakes. my concern is if i would still have the same result or the extra minutes in the oven will produce a different texture in the batter or affect its moistness. ive been searching for a good recepie that makes a good, spongy, moist banana cupcake but nothing has come even closer to that. the main problem is in the texture, too dry or too dense (because of the banana). pleasee help!
I can’t get your recipe for banana bars with whipped cream cheese frosting to print.
Any suggestions? I would love to make these. They sound delicious. Thanks/
Jan – Thanks for your note. Unfortunately if you are using Internet Explorer, the print function isn’t working right now. I am working to get it fixed but in the meantime, I’m encouraging those who are having issues to switch to a different browser like Chrome, Safari or Firefox. Internet Explorer has issues with many website functions and one of those other browsers will be much better (not just for the print function). If you don’t want to switch browsers, know that I am working on it but am not sure when there will be a fix available. I’m sorry for any inconvenience!
This recipe is so incredibly good. The bar to frosting ratio is perfect. And that frosting, by the way, is some of the best I’ve ever had. I am not the type of person who usually craves frosting on its own, but this delicious, amazing stuff I could just eat with a spoon from a bowl. It takes everything in me to stop sneaking tastes of it before I put it on the bars. Thanks for sharing this! (And thanks for filling me in on the ingredient amounts that I was unable to read off of my computer a few months ago. I’ve already made these more than once.)
I made these about two weeks ago and my husband, daughter and I ate them all in two says. A shame, I know. I even forgot to add the sour cream! ( Pregnancy brain) Then I made you cream cheese pumpkin muffins and shared with a friend who when I told him about these he was upset I didn’t save some of these for him too. He doesn’t know how hard it was to save him the pumpkin muffin! These banana bars are just…….SOOOOOOOO good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!BTW, I am 7 months pregnant and finding your blog is one of the BEST things to have happened to me! I LOVE food, LOVE IT!!!! And am so excited to have access to these wonderful dishes with such simple ingredients. I am a mom on a budget and my husband eats some of these meals and desserts and says to me ” This tastes like something you could order at a nice place” I just say, “See why I am always on that site” Thank you!
These were deeeevviiiine! Made the recipe exactly as written except used a 9.5 X 13.5 pan… The rest of the batter? Well we ate it straight from the bowl like banana pudding 😛 The only thing id do differently was decrease the whipped cream 1/4 c because I really like cream cheese frosting :))
Made these this afternoon for dessert, didn’t change anything, and they are WONDERFUL! My kids were fighting over who got the biggest piece, it was a little ridiculous but they loved them so much.
–Doubled the bars so I could freeze one pan (unfrosted). If for any reason they do not freeze well I’ll post back but they should be fine.
–The frosting is perfect and I’ll be using it for other recipes from here on out. If you are a light-froster you really only need to make HALF the frosting recipe and you’ll still have more than enough.
–Instead of mashing the bananas with fork I processed them just a couple pulses to make smooth and the texture is awesome.
Coincidentally we had your Chicken Corn Chowder for dinner followed by these for a Presidents Day dessert! Thanks so much for your blog!