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This banana pudding cake with cool whip frosting recipe is so easy to make. This is a banana cake made with cake mix and a banana pudding frosting – it’s SO good and no one will know it’s semi-homemade.

pudding cake with slices of bananas on top.

Banana Pudding Cake with Cool Whip Frosting

Banana Pudding Cake is the best dessert mashup in the world: banana cake with banana pudding frosting! This is such an easy recipe and it’s semi-homemade but no one will know. You can easily turn a favorite southern banana pudding dessert into a sheet cake – you’re going to love this.

Why you’ll love this recipe

  • Just 20 minutes to put together 
  • Uses cake mix to make life easier!
  • Cool whip frosting has pudding mix – easy to flavor and so good!

Ingredients Needed for the cake

  • Cake mix: Use any brand you like.
  • Bananas: the riper your bananas are, the sweeter your cake will be. We will use some sliced bananas to decorate the top of the cake.
  • Oil: vegetable oil is the best to use when baking to keep your cake moist
  • Nila Wafers (optional): I love to crush vanilla nilla wafers for this recipe for added texture

How to make banana pudding cake

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and spray a pan with nonstick cooking spray.
  2. Mix the cake mix, milk, mashed bananas, eggs, and vegetable oil with a whisk or an electric mixer. 
  3. Pour the cake mixture into the prepared pan. 
  4. Bake for 25-32 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. 
  5. Cool the cake completely before frosting and decorating it with vanilla wafers and sliced bananas. 
pudding cake with slices of bananas on top.

Cool Whip Frosting Ingredients

  • Cool Whip: this is a must when making frosting
  • Instant pudding mix: I’m using banana-flavored pudding mix to keep consistent with the flavors

How to make Cool Whip Frosting

  1. Stir together cool whip or whipped topping with the remaining milk and instant pudding.
  2. Frost the banana pudding cake with the whipped cream frosting.
  3. Garnish with banana and/or crushed vanilla wafers.
pudding cake with slices of bananas on top.

Expert Tips

  • If you’re using frozen bananas, let them defrost on the counter for a few hours before making the cake.
  • If you’re using fresh bananas, just make sure they’re brown-spotted. 
  • This would also taste amazing if you used vanilla pudding mix instead of banana.
  • You can use any kind of milk or nondairy milk (like almond milk) for this recipe.
  • For Cool Whip Frosting, you can use any flavor pudding mix.
  • The sliced bananas will darken, so remove them from the decoration when storing.
  • This cake can be frozen (without banana decoration) for up to a month.

FAQs

Does banana pudding cake have to be refrigerated?

Yes. Cover the pudding poke cake and store it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Does cool whip frosting need to be refrigerated?

Yes. You should store your homemade whip frosting in the fridge for up to 2 days in an airtight container. 

Does cool whip frosting melt?

It should hold well if stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container. You could add cream of tartar to prevent it from melting. ​​

overhead shot of banana pudding cake

Banana Pudding Cake Recipe

5 from 5 votes
Banana Pudding Cake is an easy banana cake topped with a banana pudding frosting!
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Yield 24 servings
Serving Size 1 serving

Ingredients
 

  • 1 (approx 15 ounce box) yellow cake mix
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 ripe bananas mashed
  • 3 large eggs
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • 1 8 ounce container Cool Whip
  • 1 3.4 ounce box instant banana pudding mix
  • Bananas and Vanilla Wafers for garnish optional

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×13″ pan with nonstick cooking spray.
  • Using a whisk or a hand mixer, mix together cake mix, 3/4 cup milk, mashed bananas, eggs, and vegetable oil.
  • Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 25-32 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool cake completely before frosting.
  • Prepare frosting: stir together cool whip with remaining 1/4 cup milk and instant pudding. Frost cake, garnishing with more banana and/or crushed vanilla wafers.
  • Store covered in refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Recipe Video

Recipe Notes

  • You can use any kind of milk or nondairy milk (like almondmilk) for this recipe.
  • For Cool Whip Frosting you can use any flavor pudding mix.
  • Store cake in refrigerator for up to 3 days. Bananas will darken, so remove them from the decoration when storing.
  • Cake can be frozen (without banana decoration) for up to a month. 

Recipe Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | Calories: 38kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 20mg | Sodium: 22mg | Potassium: 42mg | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 35IU | Vitamin C: 0.8mg | Calcium: 16mg | Iron: 0.1mg
Nutritional information not guaranteed to be accurate
Course Dessert
Cuisine American

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Last Updated on May 30, 2023

Dorothy Kern

Welcome to Crazy for Crust, where I share recipes that are sometimes crazy, often with a crust, and always served with a slice of life.

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5 Comments

  1. I really love your recipes. The banana pudding cake is one I really love. I am going to try more of your recipes thank you

  2. This recipe was out in the 80’s by chiquita banana and you use a bunt pan.  I pulled mine out the other day and tried with lemon pudding.  Results were amazing!!!!!

  3. I am so sorry to hear about your FIL. He sounds like a great person and supporter. I had a great FIL also. I miss him and wish he could be a grandpa to my children. I think as we get older we realize how short life really is. I realized this when a dear friend passed away. It caused me to think about what next? I know your family is not religious but I would ask you to read in the Bible the book of John. Jesus can really gift comfort like no one else. Prayers for your family at this difficult time.