Plantain Bread (Plantain Cake)
Moist, tender, and perfectly sweet plantain bread (or cake) makes a beautiful breakfast or snack. One bite and you’ll never complain about those overripe plantains again.
When your plantains have passed the tostones mark and are getting a little too black for even fried sweet plantains, plantain bread is the answer! This bread is cake-like in texture with subtle plantain notes that are highly delicious.
Plantain bread is super easy to make, too. It only takes a few minutes to make the batter and less than an hour in the oven for perfectly baked plantain bread. It’s one of those simple recipes the kids love to help with that comes out delish every time.
Banana Bread vs. Plantain Bread
If you love banana bread, I promise you’ll love plantain bread. Plantain bread is similar to banana bread with a few minor differences. The bread itself is a little denser.
Flavor-wise, plantain bread is still sweet, but the actual plantain flavor is less intense than that of bananas. And while riper plantains have a stronger flavor, it’s never overpowering.
How to Make Plantain Bread
- Peel the plantains, slice them, and then puree them in a food processor or blender until thoroughly mashed. Set aside. (Photos 1-3)
- Add the eggs, sour cream, sugar, softened butter, vanilla, and milk. Mix well. (Photo 4)
- Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and nutmeg. (Photo 5)
- Add the plantain mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well. (Photos 6-7)
- Pour the cake batter into the greased loaf pan (or cake pan), place two plantain slices on top, and sprinkle with brown sugar. (Photo 8)
- Bake at 325℉ (160℃) until a tester inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean, 45–50 minutes. Transfer it to a wire rack, and allow it to cool.
- Melt the butter and brown sugar until bubbling and lightly browned. Pour in the optional rum and vanilla extract, and simmer until slightly thickened and it bubbles. Pour it over the freshly baked bread, and enjoy. (Photos 9-10)
Recipe Variations and Tips
- Feel free to use orange zest, omit the nutmeg, add cinnamon, cloves, and cardamom, or customize the spices any way you see fit.
- Bake this cake in a muffin tin instead for personal portions of plantain bread. They won’t take quite as long to bake, so keep an eye on them.
- Add chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans, etc.), dried fruit, or chocolate chips if you please.
- This bread tastes best with the sweetest, ripest plantains you’ve got. Black plantains aren’t usually bad, just really sweet and soft.
- Tapping the pan on your work surface a few times will eliminate large air bubbles for even rising and baking.
Make-Ahead and Storage Instructions
Plantain and banana bread are even better baked ahead of time. Wrap it in plastic after it’s completely cooled, then store it in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days, in the fridge for 3-5 days, or in the freezer for 4-6 months.
You can reheat single slices in your toaster oven for that fresh-out-of-the-oven taste. Or zap it in the microwave for a few seconds.
What Goes With Plantain Bread
Indulge in plantain bread with a cozy cup of ginger tea or a specialty coffee like a pumpkin spice latte. You can always dress up your plantain bread and turn it into a more cake-like experience by topping it with some cream cheese frosting or a dollop of homemade whipped cream. Go ahead and add some of that to your coffee, too.
More Delightful Plantain Recipes to Try
- Fried Sweet Plantains
- Stuffed Baked Plantains
- Plantain Frittata
- Klako (Plantain Fritters)
- Crunchy Plantain Chips
By Imma
Watch How to Make It
[adthrive-in-post-video-player video-id=”KaB5erKH” upload-date=”Tue Aug 07 2018 11:38:08 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)” name=”Plantain Cake” description=”Plantain Cake – easy, light and delicious plantain cake or bread that serves as a great breakfast or afternoon snack. You could eat the whole thing without realizing you have gone overboard!”]
This blog post was originally published in April 2015 and has been updated with additional tips, new photos, and a video.
Plantain Bread (Plantain Cake)
Ingredients
The Bread
- 2 large overripe plantains
- 2 large eggs
- ⅓ cup (80g) plain yogurt or sour cream
- ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons (175g) granulated sugar
- 8 tablespoons (113g) unsalted butter, partially melted
- 1 teaspoon (5ml) vanilla extract
- ¼ cup (60ml) milk
- 2 cups (240g) sifted cake flour
- 1 teaspoon (6g) baking soda
- 1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (3g) salt
- 1 tablespoon (6g) grated lime zest (optional)
- 1 teaspoon (2-3g) grated nutmeg
The Glaze
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter
- ½ cup (100g) light brown sugar
- ¼ cup (60ml) dark rum (optional)
- 1 teaspoon (5ml) vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F (160°C). Grease a loaf or cake pan generously with cooking spray and set aside.
- Peel the plantains, slice them, and then puree them in a food processor or blender until creamy with no lumps.
- Add the eggs, yogurt, sugar, butter, vanilla extract, and milk, and mix well.
- Combine flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, optional lime zest, and nutmeg.
- Add the dry ingredients to the batter and stir well, scraping the sides of the mixing bowl as you go.
- Pour the cake batter into the greased loaf pan (or cake pan). Add a couple of plantain slices and sprinkle with brown sugar if desired.
- Bake at 325℉ (160℃) until a tester inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean, 45-50 minutes. Transfer it to a wire rack and allow it to cool.
- Melt the butter and brown sugar until bubbling and lightly browned. Pour in rum and vanilla extract, and simmer until slightly thickened and it bubbles. Pour it over the freshly baked bread, and enjoy.
Tips & Notes:
- My original recipe omits the vanilla extract, as you see in the video, and mixing is a little more complicated. The dump and mix method works just as well.
- Use the sweetest, ripest plantains you’ve got for sweeter bread.
- A potato masher, a fork, an immersion blender, and a regular blender will all mash your plantains just fine. Just make sure they’re creamy with no chunks.
- Please remember that the nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary significantly based on the products used in the recipe.
Is it okay if I used just baking powder and not baking powder and baking soda together?
Yes of course. Keep in mind that the baking soda is added to neutralize the acids in the recipe as well as help in the leavening. It also helps to add tenderness to the recipe, but if you don’t have it laying around the house I wouldn’t sweat it. Let me know how it turns out.
Hi,
great recipe…can u please share the cup measurement of plantain puree…?
Hello, About 1 cup plantain puree.
Thank you..
trying this today! i got my hands on some ripe plantains and was like what am i gonna do with these? now i know! Ill let you know how it turned out. thank you!
Great! I can’t wait for you to try this out. Waiting for your feedback!
this was first attempt at plantain cake/bread. this is a recipe I’ll def make over and over again its has so more depth then banana bread. it is moist and and has a wonderful crunchy outer crust which my personal favorite part..happy cooking!!!!
I bought some plantains a week and a half ago, planning to do a whole black beans and rice with maduros dinner. Life always tosses the unexpected at me (us?), and that dinner never happened. I was looking at these, now very black plantains, and suddenly remembered I had promised to bake something for a meeting tonight. Lucky me, I found your recipe. I’ll admit to adding a handful of chocolate chips, because, well, they were there and a little extra decadence never hurts. It turned out wonderfully. With or without the chips, this is a keeper; thanks so much.
This website was… how do I say it? Relevant!! Finally I’ve found something that helped me.
Kudos!
Wow I tried this and I am so delighted about the outcome being a first timer, I never baked before. It looks and tasted more like a cake than bread I must say. But mine got burnt though I used stainless bowl instead of a baking pan, can that be the cause?
Wow, I tried this and I am delighted with the results being a first timer, I never baked before, it tasted and looked more like a cake than bread I must say. But mine got burnt, even when the inside isn’t done yet though I didn’t use a proper pan. I couldn’t find one so I just used a stainless bowl instead, can that be the cause? Pls do reply cos I will like to try again
It could be a couple of things. The shape of the bowl you used could have made it too dense to bake all the way. The other thing it could be is that your oven needs to be re-calibrated and it’s running way too hot. You can find instructions for you model online on how to re-calibrate it.
The rule of thumb in baking is, if you are using a larger pan/bowl than the recipe says, turn the oven down by 25 degrees and cook longer. That being said, I would buy a bread pan; Pyrex has a good tempered glass one.
Thank you for taking the time to respond.
Omg! I never thought to try plantain. Your recipe was spot on. I tried it with sour cream and it was just right. I made 2 loaves of bread and thinned out batter a little with milk to make some muffins.
I love plantain cake! This sounds like a really great way to eat it too! MasterCakes
What can I substitute for the 8 tbs Unsalted butter?
8 tablespoons of oil would work as well.
Will try this for my project
Yes please. Happy baking!
This sounds delicious. I want to make this, this week but quick question, what’s the yogurt/sourcream for and are there any substitutes?
Hi, Alexis. Sourcream and yogurt makes the cake more moist with a bi of tang. Here’s a good reference when substituting sourcream >>> https://www.thespruceeats.com/sour-cream-substitutions-and-equivalents-1807479 Happy baking!
Thanks you so much 🙂
Keep on being awesome.
My plantain were not quite there so I roasted them. I peeled, split, then arranged on parchment on a cookie sheet. Drizzled with honey.
30 minutes at 350 ° was enough time to become soft.
I put them in the food processor and got all the honey I could off the paper then pureed the plantain.
I used my old standby banana bread recipe from there, being sure to sift the flour, baking soda and salt together.
Turned out delicious with honey butter. Has a slightly greener flavor than the banana bread.
See what you think of that.
Wonderful! Hope to try it! I have been doing the locals without butter, soda, salt and yogurt but tastes very wonderful!
Awesome! Do let me know how it works out for you. Thanks !
1st I never comment or review anything online . After trying this recipe I felt an obligation to comment. I am vegetarian so I buy lots of plantain and always have some that have to be thrown out. I followed this recipe to the tee (used the cake flour). Hands down the best banana/plantain recipe EVER. Moist, fluffy and delicious. THANKS A BUNCH!!!
Am SO THRILLED! Thank you so much!!
I mixed in 1/2 cup chopped Macadamia nuts. Amazing…
I tried this!I love love love this!
Hi Akosua! Glad to hear it worked out well for you.
This plantain cake is very delicious and everyone loved it. It was easy to make and I will definitely make it again. Thank you
YESS! So happy to hear it worked out well for you. Thanks for letting me know.
Made it last night; muffins instead of a loaf though and I used A/P flour but it still turned out fantastic. Thank you!
Hello Dunori, I also want to try this as muffins, can you tell me how many muffins it made and how long they baked for ? Thank you
Our local food pantry got plantains donated and we found this recipe. It is delicious. I added lemon peel since I didn’t have lime. I added cinnamon as well. Great recipe thanks. This is so much better than the banana/plantain bread recipes that I was looking at first.
Aww thank you so much! Glad to hear you enjoy it as much as my family does.