Use very ripe bananas. The riper, the better! Bananas become sweeter and more flavorful as they ripen, so wait until your bananas are spotty and falling off of their stems to make this cake.


Use cake strips to create flat cake layers. Soak these wilton cake strips in ice water before starting the cake batter. Just before baking, wrap the cake strips around the pan. The cold temperature on the outside of the cake will prevent the edges from baking faster than the center, resulting in an evenly baked flat cake.


Freeze the cake layers before decorating. Since this is such a moist cake, I highly recommend freezing the cake layers for at least two hours before decorating.