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Banana Cake Roll with Cream Cheese Filling

September 27, 2007 by Nicole 67 Comments

Banana Roll with Cream Cheese

Well, I don’t think I could ever get tired of banana bread. But if you’re looking to try something a little different with those overripe bananas sitting in your fruit basket, how about a banana roll? Banana sponge cake spread with a thick cream cheese filling rolled up into one yummy package — what’s not to love?

You’ve had pumpkin roll before, haven’t you? This is the same thing, except made with banana sponge cake rather than pumpkin. In fact, I just used the recipe for pumpkin roll, substituted banana for the pumpkin, took out the spices, and voila!

It was one of those experiments that could have been a total disaster but just happened to turn out very well. If you’ve been reading Pinch My Salt long, you know that most of my ‘original recipes’ are created this way!

Banana Roll

Cake:
Powdered sugar
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup mashed banana (about 2 medium bananas)

Filling:
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup powdered sugar (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease 15×10 inch jelly-roll pan (also known as half sheet pan); line with parchment or waxed paper. Grease and flour paper; set aside. Spread out a clean, thin dish towel on the counter (make sure the towel is larger than your jelly roll pan); sprinkle liberally with powdered sugar (this can be done using a mesh strainer).

2. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda.

3. In a large bowl combine eggs and sugar; beat until thickened. Add banana; beat until well mixed.

4. Stir in flour mixture into egg mixture. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan, easing it carefully to the corners with a spatula.

5. Bake in preheated 375 degree oven for 13 to 15 minutes or until center springs back when lightly touched.

6. Immediately loosen cake from edges of pan; invert cake onto the prepared towel. Remove pan; carefully peel off paper. Roll up cake in towel while hot, starting with 10-inch side. Cool completely on wire rack (will take at least an hour).

7. When cake is almost completely cooled, make the filling: beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, butter and vanilla extract in small mixer bowl until smooth.

8. When cake has cooled completely, unroll and spread with filling (or your favorite cream cheese frosting) then re-roll cake. Wrap rolled cake in plastic wrap then refrigerate at least one hour (overnight is best).

9. When ready to serve, unwrap cake and place on a platter. Sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired (sift the sugar through a small mesh strainer for a nice presentation). Cut into slices.

Related Recipes:

  • Best Banana Muffins
  • Whole Wheat Banana Bread
  • Cream Cheese Filled Banana Muffins

Around the Web:

  • Banana Loaf Cake from David Lebovitz
  • Chocolate Banana Cake from The Wednesday Chef
  • Banana Cake with Almonds (Gluten Free) from Lucullian Delights
  • Tish Boyle’s Banana Cake from Kitchenography

Filed Under: Adventures in Baking, Desserts, Vegetarian

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Deborah says

    September 27, 2007 at 2:33 pm

    Aaahh, I've had many different flavored cake rolls, but never banana!! This sounds wonderful!
    Reply
  2. Jennifer says

    September 27, 2007 at 3:14 pm

    Nicole, this looks and sounds delicious! I love the idea of the cream cheese filling. I must try this some time! BTW, beautiful picture!
    Reply
  3. piealamona says

    September 27, 2007 at 3:41 pm

    I make a fool-proof banana bread from an old Betty Crocker cookbook. My husband's office mates love and devour it. They would flip over a banana roll..thanks for the recipe.
    Reply
  4. Curt says

    September 27, 2007 at 5:03 pm

    Personally, I feel you're focusing on the wrong part of this... The banana bread, roll, doorstop, whatever, is at most secondary... The star of this post is the cream cheese filling! The baked whatever is simply used as a transport mechanism to get cream cheese icing into the mouth!
    Reply
  5. Mike says

    September 27, 2007 at 5:53 pm

    Sounds great, I'm going to try this tonight, I might make 2 and instead of cream cheese in one I'm going to use Nutella.....you can never get enough chocolate, especially with bannanas!
    Reply
  6. Nicole says

    September 27, 2007 at 6:43 pm

    Deborah: I really can't believe that it took me so long to think of this, it's the perfect combination! Jennifer: The cream cheese is the best part! Piealamona: You're welcome! And I agree, this is perfect to send to the office! Curt: I know, I really didn't talk enough about the cream cheese! In fact, the whole reason I dreamed this up was because I had extra cream cheese frosting leftover from the Red Velvet Cake I made recently. I couldn't let the frosting go to waste and I can only eat so much by the spoonful starting to feel sick! I was going to make some banana muffins and frost them but some friends and I were talking about Pumpkin Roll the other night and the next day a lightbulb went off! Mike: I think Nutella would be AWESOME in this! What a great idea!
    Reply
  7. shivapriya says

    September 27, 2007 at 6:48 pm

    Sounds delicious, I was think to make banana bread sometime in weekend. I can try this .. I will let u know once I try.
    Reply
  8. Ruby Berry says

    September 27, 2007 at 7:40 pm

    mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! I love this idea, your so creative! :) Almost time to start making pumpkin rolls, I'll have to do half of them pumpkin style the other half banana! Thanks!
    Reply
  9. Kevin says

    September 28, 2007 at 12:49 am

    Nice photo! Both the pumpkin and the banana sponge cake rolls sound good.
    Reply
  10. Anh says

    September 28, 2007 at 1:01 am

    this is a wonderful idea! A banana swiss roll! I would love to have that!
    Reply
  11. amanda says

    September 28, 2007 at 2:58 am

    nicole, you said it the best when you said, "what's not to love".... seriously! what's not to love. it looks sooooo yummy
    Reply
  12. ilva says

    September 28, 2007 at 5:18 am

    What a wonderful invention! And thank you for mentioning my recipe!
    Reply
  13. Nicole says

    September 28, 2007 at 6:46 am

    Padmaja: Have fun! Ruby: The "creativity with food" comes from my Dad. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't ;-) Kevin: Thanks a lot! If the temperature ever drops here, I'll start making some pumpkin stuff again. For some reason I need the weather to actually feel like Autumn before I can start making Autumn food! Anh: I just saw a recipe for a vanilla swiss roll with lemon curd that sounds delicious!! Amanda: Thanks! Ilva: You're welcome, thanks for having such a great blog ;-)
    Reply
  14. Sara, Ms. Adventures in Italy says

    September 28, 2007 at 10:50 am

    Yum, this sounds good! I miss sweet breads here in Italy...a few times I've made banana bread when I just couldn't stomach paying the "California" bakery 3 euros a slice! Da provare! :)
    Reply
  15. brilynn says

    September 28, 2007 at 2:08 pm

    When I saw your pumpkin roll way back when I knew I wanted to make it but never got around to it, now I'll have to choose between banana and pumpkin... they both sound great!
    Reply
  16. manggy says

    September 28, 2007 at 2:44 pm

    Hey, this reminds me of Flo Braker's recipe... She didn't have enough indulgence though to fill it with cream cheese! (Is that what they call a Bee-Sting cake (er, roll)?) I love the combination.
    Reply
  17. Carla says

    September 28, 2007 at 2:52 pm

    I always end up making banana bread for my family because that's all they ask for with old bananas. Now I will have to introduce this recipe and see if it's as big of a hit.
    Reply
  18. Nicole says

    September 28, 2007 at 3:59 pm

    Sara: Three euros a slice! Ouch! We don't have any American bakeries down here except for one I know of on the other side of the island. But we do have our American grocery store on base so I can buy ingredients for just about anything I crave. But with all the yummy pasticcerie around, I don't miss American bakeries too much :-) Brilynn: Why not make one of each? :-) Manggy: I saw that recipe when I was trying to figure out who else was making banana rolls. Her cake is a butter cake rather than sponge and even though she says it can be rolled, I'm still be a little nervous to try it! But since I actually like butter cake better than sponge cake, I think I will try it sometime. I was thinking that her version would be especially good with the Nutella filling that Kevin mentioned! Carla: I usually do the same thing. About as adventurous as I ever used to get with ripe bananas was making banana muffins instead of a loaf of banana bread! It was fun to try something new although my banana muffins are much healthier than this cake!
    Reply
  19. cindy says

    September 29, 2007 at 6:53 am

    Ah I wish I can have a bite on that~!
    Reply
  20. Anali says

    September 29, 2007 at 2:59 pm

    OMG!!! This looks so good and I'd been recently thinking about how I've never tried any cake roll recipes. I'm so going to try this! Again, I'm printing out the recipe. And I don't know if this is new or I just never noticed it before, but I see the little printer icon for this post. I've been trying to figure out how to do this for my blog. Any pointers or suggestions? Thank you Nicole! ; )
    Reply
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