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Plantain Bread (Plantain Cake)

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Author: Imma
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Plantain Bread – Moist, tender, and perfectly sweet, this plantain bread (or cake makes a beautiful breakfast or snack. One bite and you’ll never throw out those overripe plantains again. 😅

Sliced plantain bread for pure comfort food

When your plantains have passed the tostone mark and are getting a little too black for even fried sweet plantains, plantain cake or 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. 💯

Content…

Banana Bread vs. Plantain Bread 
Recipe Ingredients
How to Make It
Recipe Variations
Tips and Tricks
Make-Ahead Instructions
Serving and Storage Instructions
What to Serve
More Delightful Plantain Recipes to Try
Watch How to Make It
Beautifully wrapped plantain bread for the perfect gift to yourself

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 bananas. And while riper plantains have a stronger flavor, it’s never overpowering.

Recipe Ingredients

  1. Plantains – Two large plantains are all you need for this recipe. If you have more overripe plantains around you need to use up, feel free to make a double batch.
  2. Flour – I used cake flour, but all-purpose flour works. Baking soda and powder act as leavening agents for a good rise.
  3. Sugar – Since plantains are already fairly sweet, you won’t need to add much sugar. But a little does improve the overall texture and flavor, IMO.
  4. Dairy – Milk and butter add richness and flavor while sour cream (or yogurt) keeps the cake moist and not overly dense. 
  5. Eggs – Classic cake-binding ingredients; you’ll need two large eggs for this recipe.
  6. Spices – Grated lime zest and nutmeg are my spices of choice for this cake.

How to Make Plantain Bread

Mash the fruit and cream the butter and sugar

Prepare the Batter

  • 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 thoroughly mashed. Set aside.
  • Dry Ingredients – Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
  • Cream butter and sugar on high in a stand mixture until fluffy and looking white. It takes 3-4 minutes. Then add the yogurt and mix for a minute more.
  • Stir in the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition. Then add the plantain puree and mix until combined.
  • Mix Wet and Dry Ingredients – Sift the dry ingredients into the batter, a little at a time. Then add the grated lime zest, nutmeg, and milk.
  • Stir well until everything is fully combined, scraping the sides of the mixing bowl as you go.
Add the eggs, add the fruit, mix all the ingredients and pour into the loaf pan

Bake the Plantain Bread

  • Pour the cake batter into the greased loaf pan (or cake pan). 
  • 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.
Gorgeous and delicious plantain bread or cake to make a happy family

Recipe Variations

  1. Customize the spices. Feel free to use orange zest, omit the nutmeg, add cinnamon, cloves, and cardamon, or customize the spices any way you see fit. 
  2. Plantain banana bread. Can’t decide what kind of bread to make? Use one large banana and one large plantain and bake as per recipe instructions. Yum! 
  3. Make plantain muffins. 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.
  4. Add-ins. Add chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans, etc.), dried fruit, or chocolate chips if you please. 😉
  5. Switch recipes. Can you use plantains in banana bread? I get that question a lot. And as long as the plantains are super ripe, go for it.

Tips and Tricks

  1. Use super-ripe plantains! This bread tastes best with the sweetest, ripest plantains you’ve got. Definitely don’t try making it with plantains that are still green or even fully yellow. The blacker the better.
  2. A potato masher or a fork will mash your plantains just fine instead of a blender. Just make sure you mash them until they are creamy and have no chunks. 
  3. Right before you put your bread batter in the oven to bake, tap the pan on your work surface a few times. That will eliminate any large air bubbles that might have formed and promote even cooking.

Make-Ahead Instructions

Plantain bread fresh out of the oven is amazing, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make this ahead of time. In fact, it’s even better the next day.

Bake it a day or two ahead of time and wrap it in plastic after it’s completely cooled. Then store it in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days or in the fridge for 3-5 days.

Serving and Storage Instructions 

Let plantain cake cool for about 15 minutes before you slice it, slather it with butter, and dig in.

Keep leftover plantain bread at room temperature in an airtight container for 2-3 days or in your fridge for 3-5 days. 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.

Slicing into a fresh loaf of plantain bread perfect with coffee

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 it up 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

  1. Fried Sweet Plantains
  2. Stuffed Baked Plantains
  3. Plantain Frittata
  4. Klako (Plantain Fritters)
  5. Crunchy Plantain Chips

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)
Print

Plantain Bread (Plantain Cake)

A great breakfast bread as a banana bread alternative. Fresh from the oven it is moist and tender; you could eat the whole thing without realizing you have gone overboard!
4.74 from 41 votes
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 50 minutes
Total: 1 hour 5 minutes
African
Servings 10

Ingredients

  • 2 large plantains (overripe)
  • 1 teaspoon (6g) baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon (3g) salt
  • 2 cups (210g) sifted cake flour
  • 8 tablespoons (113g) unsalted butter
  • ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons (230g) granulated sugar
  • ⅓ cup (80g) plain yogurt or sour cream
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon (2-3g) grated nutmeg
  • 1 tablespoon (6g) lime zest, grated
  • ¼ cup (60ml) milk

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 thoroughly mashed. Set aside.
  • Combine flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
  • Cream butter and sugar on high in a stand mixture until fluffy and looking white. It takes 3-4 minutes. Then add the yogurt and mix for a minute more.
  • Stir in the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition. Then add the plantain puree and mix until combined.
  • Sift the dry ingredients into the batter, a little at a time. Then add the grated lime zest, nutmeg, and milk.
  • Stir well until everything is fully combined, scraping the sides of the mixing bowl as you go.
  • Pour the cake batter into the greased loaf pan (or cake pan). 
  • 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.

Tips & Notes:

  • Use super-ripe plantains! This bread tastes best with the sweetest, ripest plantains you’ve got. Please don’t try making it with plantains that are still green or even fully yellow. The blacker, the better.
  • A potato masher or a fork will mash your plantains just fine instead of a blender. Just make sure you mash them until they are creamy and have no chunks. 
  • Right before you put your bread batter in the oven to bake, tap the pan on your work surface a few times. That will eliminate any large air bubbles that might have formed and promote even cooking.
  • Please remember that the nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary significantly based on the products used in the recipe.

Nutrition Information:

Serving: 1slice| Calories: 383kcal (19%)| Carbohydrates: 62g (21%)| Protein: 8g (16%)| Fat: 12g (18%)| Saturated Fat: 7g (44%)| Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g| Monounsaturated Fat: 3g| Trans Fat: 0.4g| Cholesterol: 64mg (21%)| Sodium: 307mg (13%)| Potassium: 263mg (8%)| Fiber: 2g (8%)| Sugar: 22g (24%)| Vitamin A: 774IU (15%)| Vitamin C: 7mg (8%)| Calcium: 64mg (6%)| Iron: 1mg (6%)
Author: Imma
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: African
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Comments & Reviews

  3. Alexis says

    4 stars
    This sounds delicious. I want to make this, this week but quick question, what’s the yogurt/sourcream for and are there any substitutes?

    Reply

  4. Dana says

    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.

    Reply

  5. Aksua says

    Wonderful! Hope to try it! I have been doing the locals without butter, soda, salt and yogurt but tastes very wonderful!

    Reply

  6. Kmac says

    5 stars
    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!!!

    Reply

  8. Claudia says

    5 stars
    This plantain cake is very delicious and everyone loved it. It was easy to make and I will definitely make it again. Thank you

    Reply

    • ZIZI says

      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

      Reply

  10. Edie says

    4 stars
    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.

    Reply

  11. Lily says

    i followed all the steps. Mine is looking a little doughy. It tastes delicious but the toothpick comes out a little doughy even after 1hr 20mts. The bread is not white like your picture. What do u think? Should i leave it alone.

    Reply

    • ImmaculateBites says

      Sorry to hear it didn’t work out for you. If it’s not cooked after hour then the culprit is probably in the ingredients and/or measurements. Can’t say for sure without watching you do it .

      Reply

  12. Shona says

    4 stars
    Yeah!!!!! Thanks a lot for this, am done throwing my plantains away, I tried it without the sour cream and it came out nice and tasty…..

    Reply

  15. Osa says

    5 stars
    Hello, I had plantains that were too soft to use so I googled what I can make with them. Thank goodness I got this recipe. My food processor is bad so I used blender to combine the ingredients and this is the first time I will be baking anything from the scratch (I usually use cake mixes). It turned out great and the taste is yum. My kids will be overjoyed when they get back from school. Thanks Immaculate Bites

    Reply