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Banana Bread Bars are going to be your newest obsession – they are amazing. Imagine a deliciously soft banana bread but instead of baking it in a loaf tin, you bake in a longer rectangular tin so you can cut it into bars. Smoothed with a burnt honey whipped cream, it is unbelievable.
I like to make these as a baked treat for any friends who have had a baby recently. Something about it being a classic banana bread (which everyone loves!) but with the luxurious whipped honey cream on top just makes it something extra special.
Table of Contents
Why you’ll love this recipe
- It’s the perfect banana bread bar recipe as it has a delicious topping as well as a moist cake base.
- This cake is a great way to use up any bananas that are going bad in your fruit bowl – we’ve all been there! Or if you have any lurking in the freezer that you said you’d use one day but haven’t quite got there.
- The bars are super moist from the brown butter and the addition of Greek yoghurt. They are really just pillowy and soft, so good.
Ingredients
See recipe card for the exact recipe with a full list of ingredients and measurements
Light soft brown sugar – this contains molasses so using it results in a softer yet denser cake as it retains moisture. It’s delicious here.
Banana – you will need around four very ripe bananas. When I have bananas going brown in my kitchen and I know they are past the point of being eaten as a snack, I throw them straight in the freezer. Just defrost when you want to bake and you have the ripe bananas you always need for a recipe like this!
Greek yoghurt – use full-fat here.
Double cream – known as heavy cream. Yes you need 950ml! It may seem a lot but you want the topping to be very thick, almost as thick as the cake itself as they work so well together.
Gelatin – I use the gelatin leaves as I find they dissolve best into the cream.
Substitutions & Variations
Greek yoghurt – Natural yoghurt also works, as well as other soured dairy products like creme fraiche, buttermilk or sour cream.
Topping – the burnt honey cream topping is optional but so delicious. These are also great just as banana bread bars on their own.
Here’s how to make banana bread bars
Here’s a step by step guide for what you need to do, but you can find the full recipe at the bottom of the page for detailed instructions.
Step 1: make the brown butter
ONE: Melt the butter and keep over medium-high heat.
TWO: The butter will start foaming and bubbling. Keep stirring every so often as the milk solids will start to separate and you don’t want them to burn on the bottom of the pan.
THREE: After a short while, the milk solids will be brown and toasty. It will smell nutty too.
FOUR: Keep stirring until the milk solids (the flecks) are dark brown but definitely not black. If they are black, you’ve burnt it and the banana bread will be bitter. Cool slightly before stirring in the butter.
Step 2: make the banana bread bars
FIVE: Preheat the oven to 170c fan/190c convetional and grease an 11×15 inch swiss roll tin (a longer, rectangular pan). Pour the brown butter into a bowl and whisk in the sugars.
SIX: Next add the eggs, followed by the yoghurt.
SEVEN: In a separate bowl, mash the bananas.
EIGHT: Add the mashed banana, and vanilla and fold together.
NINE: Whisk in the flour, baking soda and salt.
TEN: Pour the batter into the greased pan and spread it out evenly. Bake for 25-30 minutes.
ELEVEN: In a small saucepan, bring honey to a boil. let it bubble and then reduce heat and add 2 cups (500ml roughly) of cream.
TWELVE: Cook until honey is fully dissolved. Then pour in the melted white chocolate and transfer to a mixing bowl.
THIRTEEN: Add the gelatine whilst it’s still hot. It’ll dissolve and then you can whisk it together.
FOURTEEN: Once the gelatine is dissolved, transfer it to a food processor (or use an immersion blender) and slowly stream in the remaining cream.
FIFTEEN: Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate until cold. Once it’s cold, you can use a whisk to whip it up until it’s nice and thick.
SIXTEEN: Then smear it on the cake and top with swirled caramel.
Cooking Tips
Brown Butter: Don’t be put off by this or think it’s hard. It’s super easy and the guide above has all the helpful tips and tricks to make sure you get it just right.
Don’t Overmix: Fold the dry and wet ingredients together just enough to combine but don’t beat vigorously. Overmixing will make the batter tough. This is why I like to make the banana bread bars by hand.
Frequently Asked Questions
The banana bread can be made a day ahead and well wrapped. Make the burnt honey cream 1-2 days in advance, up to when you place in the fridge to cool. Then whip it up when ready to decorate and serve same day.
I like to add fresh slices of banana, cut on an angle so you get longer thinner slices rather than rounds. Then I topped it with caramel sauce, but it would be great with chocolate shavings. You could drizzle with more honey instead of caramel or you could sprinkle with nuts or desiccated coconut. Or it’s great as is with no toppings.
Heat the oven to 150c fan/130c regular. Lay bananas on a tray in their skins, and place in the oven. Bake for Bake for 10–30 minutes, depending on how ripe the bananas are. Keep checking them until totally brown. Once done, remove from oven, cool slightly and then peel the bananas, mash them, and add to the recipe as stated. This mimics ripe bananas as best as possible, although a proper ripe banana is best.
Yes if you froze brown bananas when they went past the point of eating and want to use them now, just defrost them and continue with the recipe, adding in where instructed below. This goes for if you froze whole bananas (just remove the skins) or if you froze peeled chopped bananas.
Yes, they freeze well on their own, with no burnt honey cream topping. Pop the bars in an airtight tupperware or container and freeze for around 2 months. Defrost them at room temp when ready to serve, for at least a few hours. Then top with burnt honey cream.
Other recipes you might like
If you liked these banana bread bars, try my moist chocolate cake, no bake Biscoff cheesecakeor my fluffy banana pancakes. For more like the burnt honey cream, try my whipped brown butter. If you like baking in general, try my Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie
Easy Baking Recipes
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
Easy Baking Recipes
Caramelised Banana Upside Down Cake
Easy Baking Recipes
Banana Chocolate Chunk Muffins
Pancake Recipes
Banana Crêpes
If you tried these Banana Bread Bars or any other recipe on the site, please do leave a comment and let us know how it went!
Banana Bread Bars
Ingredients
For the bars:
- 115 g unsalted butter, 1/2 cup
- 105 g light brown sugar, packed, 1/2 cup
- 200 g granulated sugar, 1 cup
- 2 large eggs
- 385 g ripe banana, mashed (4-ish bananas), 1 1/2 cups
- 250 g thick Greek yoghurt, 1 cup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 265 g plain flour, 2 cups
- 1 tsp bicarbonate soda
- 1/2 tsp Maldon salt
Burnt Honey Cream:
- 115 g honey, 4 ounces
- 950 ml double cream, 1 quart
- 400 g white chocolate, 14 ounces
- 4 silver leaf gelatin sheets
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Topping:
- Sliced banana
- Caramel sauce for drizzling
Instructions
For the banana bread bars:
- Preheat the oven to 170c fan/190c convetional and grease an 11×15 inch swiss roll tin (a longer, rectangular pan).
- Add the butter to a saucepan over medium heat.
- Bubble it gently as we want to brown the butter. If you haven’t done it before, it’s very simple you just need to be patient and watch it and make sure the temperature isn’t too high. The butter will melt and then get very bubbly and noisy, and then that stops and it goes foamy and frothy. Keep stirring until it turns a light amber colour. This is easiest to see if you’re using a light coloured pan but either way, just swirl the butter and tip it to one side so you can see the colour. Brown butter is delicious, scorched butter is not, and there is a fine line – you want it to be a lovely chestnut brown.
- Once you're happy, pour the brown butter into a bowl and whisk in the sugars.
- Next add the eggs, followed by the yoghurt, mashed banana, and vanilla. Mix together.
- Whisk in the flour, baking soda and salt.
- Pour the batter into the greased pan and spread it out evenly.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden and risen, and a skwerer inserted into the middle comes out clean, aisde from maybe a moist crumb or two.
For the Burnt Honey Cream:
- In a small saucepan, bring honey to a boil. Let it bubble and then reduce heat and add half of the cream. Cook until honey is fully dissolved. Remove from the heat and stir in white chocolate and salt.
- Place the gelatin sheets into bowl of water and leave for a few minutes until they are completely soft, squeeze out excess water. Add the softened gelatine to the cream mixture and whisk until it's completely dissolved. Do not boil this mixture, but you might want a gentle heat to get the gelatine to dissolve. Pour through a sieve into a bowl. Add the remaining cream and blend until smooth, using an immersion blender or blender.
- Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate until cold.
- Once completely cool, pop into a bowl and use a whisk to whip Burnt Honey Cream until soft peaks form.
- Spread over the banana bread and top with banana slices, some grated chocolate and perhaps a drizzle of caramel sauce. Cut into squares and enjoy!
- The video below will help with this recipe.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
These banana bread bars are moist and delicious. The burnt honey cream just takes them to a new level. So good!