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Why You’ll Love My Recipe
Refrigerator cakes are an excellent cool treat for beating summer heat. Take a classic banana split to the next level with this simple but delicious make-ahead recipe!
For some other great bakes using bananas, why not try our Chocolate Banana Buttermilk Bundt Cake or Chocolate Lovers Chocolate Chip Banana Bread? And if you want an extra topping for this dessert try some Caramel Syrup!
Karlynn’s Recipe Notes
- Skill Level: This no-bake recipe is easy but requires some concentration.
- Total Time: With 4 hours of fridge time but just 20 minutes of prep, this is an easy dessert to make a day in advance or even first thing in the morning.
- Variations: If you like chocolate on your banana splits, try serving this with a drizzle of Chocolate Sauce or a sprinkle of chocolate chips. For even more cherry goodness, drizzle some cherry pie filling on top. Use some Strawberry Whipped Cream instead of whipped topping, or dollop some on when it’s time to serve. You can also try using chopped peanuts instead of walnuts.
- Tools For This Recipe: For this recipe, you’ll need a 9×13 baking dish, an electric hand mixer or stand mixer, and a spoon. An offset spatula will be useful for spreading out each layer.
What You’ll Need For Ingredients
Cream Cheese Layer: Allowing your cream cheese to come up to room temperature before mixing will help it blend with the icing sugar more easily. Combined, these ingredients will make a fluffy and luxurious layer.
Graham Cracker Base: You can either buy pre-packaged graham cracker crumbs for this part, or throw some graham crackers into a Ziploc bag and crush them yourself. Just like when you’re making a graham cracker pie crust, you’ll mix the crumbs with melted butter and sugar.
Pineapple: This recipe calls for crushed pineapple, but if you prefer bigger chunks of pineapple, that’s fine. Just be sure that whatever size pieces of pineapple you choose, you drain them well and reserve the juice.
Whipped Topping: A tub of whipped topping, some homemade whipped cream, or even some strawberry or lemon flavored whipped cream will work for this.
How to Make Banana Split Cake
This is an overview of the recipe. The full list of ingredients & complete step-by-step instructions are in the recipe card below.
- Mix graham crumbs, sugar, and melted butter in a bowl, then press the graham mixture into the bottom of a 9×13 inch pan. Refrigerate for 20 minutes until firm.
- Beat cream cheese and icing sugar together in a bowl until fluffy. Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the chilled graham cracker crust.
- Spread drained pineapple over the cream cheese mixture and then arrange banana slices over the pineapple layer.
- Top everything with whipped topping, then garnish with one maraschino cherry per slice and sprinkle chopped walnuts over all.
Karlynn’s Tips for the Perfect Banana Split Cake
Bananas: Some light brown speckling on bright yellow bananas is a sign of the perfect ripeness and sweetness for using in this dessert.
Homemade whipped cream will deflate and weep in this recipe, so using the whipped topping is best.
The best way to keep nuts—like the chopped walnuts we use in this recipe—fresh and tasting their best is to keep them in the fridge in an airtight glass container, where they’ll last for four to six months. If buying in bulk, store any extras in airtight bags in the freezer for up to a year!
Storage Instructions
Leftovers will keep in the refrigerator in the pan with a tight cover of cling wrap or in an airtight container for 2-3 days. We do not recommend that you freeze this cake, as the banana slices will become mushy when defrosting.
More Delicious Cake Recipes
- For another timeless classic, try this Hummingbird Cake.
- If you love a graham cracker crust, why not give our Sweet Potato Cheesecake a try for your next holiday celebration?
- For a sweet afternoon treat with a cup of coffee or tea, try our rich and moist Sour Cream Coffee Cake.
There you go, everyone. All the flavours of a banana split, in cake form. Give this luscious, rich, and fruity dessert a try, and tell us how it turned out for you in the comments below!
Happy Baking!
Karlynn
Banana Split Cake.
Ingredients
- 2 cups graham cracker crumbs
- ½ cup butter, (melted)
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- one 20 ounce can crushed pineapple, (Liquid squeezed out and reserved)
- 6 medium bananas
- one 8 ounce package cream cheese
- 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
- one 12 ounce container frozen whipped topping, (thawed)
- 1 jar maraschino cherries
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts
- chocolate sauce, for topping
Instructions
- Mix the graham crumbs, sugar, and melted butter in a bowl.
- Get a 9×13 inch pan and press the graham mixture into the bottom. Refrigerate for 20 minutes to firm up.
- Drain the crushed pineapple into a medium sized bowl. Making sure all liquid is squeezed out well and no liquid remains.
- Slice the bananas into small circles and put them in the bowl with the reserved pineapple juice. Set aside.
- With a electric mixer beat the cream cheese and the confectioners sugar together until light and fluffy.
- Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the graham cracker crust, making sure to not disturb the crust.
- Sprinkle the crushed pineapple over the cream cheese mixture.
- Remove the sliced bananas out of the pineapple juice with a slotted spoon and lay them on top of the pineapple.
- Spread the whipped topping over top of the bananas.
- Place maraschino cherries on top, in rows of 4 by 6, making 24 squares to slice for serving. Sprinkle chopped walnuts on top.
- Chill for at least 4 hours before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Tanya says
Hi! Love your recipes. This one, you have sugar on the ingredients but it is missing in the instructions.
Jillian says
It’s in step 5 love.
Janie Le Huquet says
It does not mention granulated sugar?