BEST Banana Cake EVER – JB Hiap Joo Bakery
Healthy Living,  Recipe

BEST Banana Cake EVER – JB Hiap Joo Bakery

I LOVE Banana cake. Specifically, cold banana cake. I know it sounds a little peculiar, but try chilling a banana cake in the refrigerator and have it a few hours later. Oh, especially those swiss roll cakes with a gentle layer of whipped cream – SO DAMN GOOD.

Celebrating their 100th anniversary this year, Hiap Joo bakery is one of the oldest bakeries in Johor Bahru (i.e. Southern tip of Malaysia) which opened in 1919. This family owned business is well known for their traditional and authentic wood fire baking techniques. Usually packed with several parallel queues outside the store, people travel to the busier part of town just to buy their famous spongy banana cake. Last year, I went to Johor Bahru for the first time as I visited the BF’s turf / birthplace / hometown / other Thesaurus synonyms. During my trip, I had the privilege to try this famous banana cake and I can officially declare it as the best banana cake that I’ve ever had.

BEST Banana Cake EVER – JB Hiap Joo Bakery

The banana cake was very fluffy, but not dry. The texture was moist and light, yet its banana flavour was in abundance. It was definitely no less than what a perfect banana cake would be. Unfortunately, as I only visit home a couple of times throughout the year, I will only be able to have the cake once or twice a year. So here I am today, in a shameless attempt to recreate this amazing banana cake! (no wood fire kiln, unfortunately)

BEST Banana Cake EVER – JB Hiap Joo Bakery

Before jumping into the recipe, let’s talk about Bananas real quick.

BEST Banana Cake EVER – JB Hiap Joo Bakery

Q: how do Bananas become fully ripe?

Once a fruit is harvested, its life is drastically changes as the flow of minerals and water is instantly cut off. The only energy a harvested fruit can draw on comes from its dwindling reserve of sugars, acids and starches. (Yes, some harvested fruits do not ripen nearly as well as they would on a tree.) Only “climacteric” fruits ripen in a frenzied climax of respiration and activity which can occur away from the parent plant, allowing further ripening process as a fruit itself after being harvested.

A mature banana usually would be harvested when it’s still completely green. The fruit can continue photosynthesis in a minor sort of way when exposed to sun because of its colour. The banana will continue to ripen with the stored reserves of starch, allowing the fruit to grow much sweeter after harvest. They go from 1% sugar and 25% starch to 15% sugar and 1% starch during ripening.

BEST Banana Cake EVER – JB Hiap Joo Bakery

Q: my banana cake does not have a strong banana flavour, is it because bakeries use flavouring?

I attempted this banana cake a few times with many variations. One of them was to test the outcome from the ripeness of the bananas used. I found that the greener the banana, the weaker the flavour. On the other hand, the “more dead” the banana, the stronger the flavour. Then again, I’d play safe by sticking to spotted bananas before any black patches start to appear, in avoidance of further decay and fermentation inside their skins.

There is also the option of increasing the banana content beyond what is recommended in a recipe. This will definitely result in a much more intensely flavoured banana cake. Do take note that the moistness of the cake will increase alongside, which is good at first but until a point as this tends to reduce the fluffiness of the cake as well.

Without further delay, I present to you.. my new pink bunny plate! 🙂 And the BEST banana cake recipe, inspired by the BEST bakery in JB. It is the best, in fact, as it is also the only bakery that I’ve been too. 😛

BEST Banana Cake EVER – JB Hiap Joo Bakery
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4.91 from 22 votes

BEST Banana Cake EVER – JB Hiap Joo Bakery

Shameless attempt to recreate the BEST spongy banana cake EVER from Hiap Joo Bakery. Fluffy, but not dry. The texture is moist and light, yet abundance of banana flavour.
Course Breakfast, Tea Time
Cuisine Asian
Keyword Banana, Cake
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Servings 8 people
Calories 522kcal
Author SforB

Ingredients

  • 380 g Banana slices , ripen with spots
  • 300 g Cake Flour
  • 1 tsp Baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp Baking soda
  • 5 Eggs yolks , large
  • 5 Egg whites , large
  • 235 g Caster sugar
  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
  • 170 g Vegetable oil (or sunflower oil)

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius fan-assisted. Grease and line / flour a square 9×9 inch baking tin.
  • Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda together into a bowl.
  • In a bowl, whisk the egg whites and sugar with a hand mixer at medium-high speed until the mixture becomes soft peaks. Add the sliced banana and continue whisking at high speed until the mixture doubles in volume (around ~8 mins).
    BEST Banana Cake EVER – JB Hiap Joo Bakery
  • Whisk well the egg yolks, vanilla extract and the vegetable oil in a mixing bowl until fully incorporated. Fold in the egg white mixture with a spatula. Add the dry ingredients into the mixing bowl and continue folding until the batter is well incorporated and shiny.
  • Pour the mixture into the lined baking tin. Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes. * Remove the tin from the oven and leave to cool before cutting. 

Notes

* you can use aluminium foil to cover the top of the pan after 35 minutes to avoid too much browning of the cake.
Volume to metrics Conversions can be found here.
 
BEST Banana Cake EVER – JB Hiap Joo Bakery

86 Comments

  • Snow

    Love the recipe. Tasted great and managed to try many variations such as other flour and nuts.

    May I know if it was changed? I don’t recall splitting the egg whites and yolks when I followed this recipe the past few times.

    Thanks again for sharing this recipe.

    • SforB

      hi Snow! Yes I did change it cause I realised it gives even more volume. Of course the original way still works and you can still beat the egg as whole until foamy. 🙂 Glad you like the recipe!

  • J

    Can we add the slice of banana into the eggs mixture instead of the meringue? By adding into the meringue will it cause the meringue to flatten?

  • Syin

    Hi S, I just baked and tried it. Love love the texture but for me personally I prefer stronger banana smell ( presence, lol). I use Cavendish banana too, can I add more banana or should I use another type of banana? Thanks!

    • SforB

      hi Syin! You can add more banana 🙂 You may lose out a bit on the fluffiness, but if you prefer heavier banana taste then go ahead and use up to 430g. Remember to keep the bananas until they start spotting as they will be sweeter and more flavourful then!

  • jenn

    Hi,

    Thanks for the recipe! Can you share how you get the smooth top surface? i used my spatula to gently swipe the entire top but it doesn’t seem to do the trick.. still get a few air pocket holes and abit of bumpiness. Thanks!

    • SforB

      after you pour the batter into the pan, try this method: lift the pan 1-2 inches above the kitchen counter and let go to drop it a few times.

  • Ep

    Hi S, thanks for the recipe. I also missed the JB HJ banana cake and since I had some ripened bananas, I decided to have a go at it. I followed your recipe to a T and my bananas were a little more ripe than what I see in jour picture. I baked for 50 mins – 5 mins longer and thr cake turned out a little darker on top and at the sides. But my problem is that it was a bit dense at the bottom, although thr taste was still good. May I know how to rid of thr dense problem?

      • Hana

        Hi! thanks a lot for the recipe.Do you think if i were to use multipurpose flour instead of cake flour (which is quite expensive)the result will be starkly different?
        Thank you❤️

        • SforB

          Hi Hana, your cake may turn out slightly less fluffier but it should still be airier since you’ve got the eggs beaten for long!

  • Madhu

    Hi ,
    I half the recipe and used 3 eggs and used 110 gm of sugar…the cake was super soft but was less sweet… should I use only two eggs for the smaller version???

    • SforB

      Hi Madhu, usually it’s best to ratio your ingredients by full volume of the pan. For example, I have around 9 by 9 inches and say 1.5 inches tall cake, which gives me a total volume of 121.5 cubic inches. If you are using a 6 by 6 inches cake tin, then you should try to achieve around 54 cubic inches (6x6x1.5). So your ratio would be around 0.44 of the original recipe, and that is more equivalent to 2 eggs. If you have more questions, feel free to drop me an email at sforbaking@gmail.com! 🙂

  • Jae

    Hi S! I used a 5″ springfoam pan so I had to divide everything by 5 for 1 small cake. The recipe worked out well and taste great too. The only thing is that the top brown part is not a smooth ‘skin’. Instead, it is quite dry and crumbly. Do you have any advice on what I can do? I’m still baking at 160deg for 40min.

    • SforB

      Hi Jae, with your 5 inch pan, I’d suggest to divide around 4-4.5 than 5 times. You should then reduce your baking time to around 30 minutes instead. Give your cake a little test within the 25-35mins range by poking a toothpick to see if the cake is ready.

  • XY

    Thanks for the recipe. really good one and I follow the second method (split the egg white and egg yolk). I didn’t use any mixer for this but it still taste fluffy and yummy!

    • SforB

      I think if it’s just in the open, max 2 days (assuming you’re from a hot and humid country)? Cause usually I’d keep it in an airtight container or in the fridge at least, and that should last me 5 days or so. 🙂

  • Jialing

    Hi there,

    Can i check if i can use toaster oven instead? And if yes what temp and power should i set? And will it be okay in 30mins? 🙂

    • SforB

      Hey, hmm I’ve not used a toaster oven myself but it should be the same temperature and baking time as what’s stated in the recipe. Does your toaster oven have a baking function?

  • Ruth

    I’ve just made your recipe, but I did a little change of the methods. I mixed the eggs white and sugar (I only used 170 gr) with some drip of lemon juice separately until soft peak (4 mins).
    And then mix it with other ingredients which already mixed in a bowl..mix well with spatula, but not over mix and baked it with au bain marie (water bath) methods.
    The cake is moist, fluffy, I think 90% similarity with Hiap Joo.
    Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, S! 🙂

  • Jasmine

    From Jb here living in Singapore. Missed having hiap joo’s banana cake and your recipe is really just like it! My family enjoyed it very much
    Next time I’ll use really riper bananas for a stronger banana flavour. Reduced sugar 180g tasted just nice too.
    Do you know how I can get the cake even more fluffy/airy like hiap joo’s?

    • SforB

      I miss it a lot too! The last time I had it was more than a year ago 🙁 You could potentially spend a few more minutes beating up the eggs, and be really careful as you fold the dry ingredients into the beaten eggs. When you pour the batter into the pan, don’t pour it from a height – bring the mixing bowl very close to the pan. I think you could also add another egg (whites only) to create that additional fluff. Good luck!

  • Sarah

    Can I use an additional banana for a more banana flavour? Will the recipe still work? I used three medium sized bananas for 380g. I made this recipe today! It came out really amazing and fluffy! I also used 180g of sugar and I found it sweet enough for me. Thank you so much! 🙂

    • SforB

      Hi Sarah, glad you liked it! I think you can play around with +/- 50g bananas. It may lose a little of it’s fluffiness but would not expect huge changes.

  • Amanda

    Hi, may I know how much the cake will rise? I don’t have a square pan but a round springform pan. Do you think the batter might be too runny for a springform pan? Lastly, I noticed you mention you add sliced bananas instead of mash into the batter before mixing. Is there a reason why sliced and not mashed?

    Thanks!

    • SforB

      Hi Amanda, rule of thumb is to always fill around 2/3 of the pan. You could use the remaining batter (if any) and make them into little cupcakes too 🙂 The cupcakes should be done around 25-30minutes. As for the bananas, there is no need to mash them because you will have to beat them with the mixer for ~8 minutes anyway. So saved a step there 🙂

      • Anonymous

        I really like the taste of the banana cake created by this recipe. Thank you for sharing. However I encountered a problem. My cake is fluffy at the top but rather dense at the bottom. Why is that so? And how can I make the whole cake fluffy throughout?

  • Ashley J

    This recipe was incredible, but i encountered an issue for the final oil addition, i noticed my oil wasn’t quite getting incorporated with the rest of my batter, any recommendations for that? In spite of it, the cake came out amazing and delicious! Thank you for the recipe! 😉

    • SforB

      Glad you liked it! As for the oil addition, just make sure as you do the final folds to really “scoop” the bottom of the bowl. Take more time to fold if you need to. Sometimes I use a pyrex bowl so I can check the bottom 😛

    • SforB

      Hi Lee, most of my recipes already have slightly reduced sugar levels. This makes quite a huge batch as you can see, that’s why the sugar content looks a little high. You could always reduce to 220g caster sugar and give that a go. Hopefully that will suit your preference!

  • May

    Hi S, just to confirm, around 8 mins of whisking is from adding in bananas, not from the very start of whisking? Thks.

    • SforB

      yes you can 🙂 I’d bake it shorter too, maybe 30-35 minutes. Best to check using the toothpick method.

    • CL

      Hi S, I gave this recipe a try but it did not turn out as light and fluffy as the images that you have. Whipping the sugar and eggs on high speed with a stand mixer gave rise to a really aerated batter and I’m not sure if thats what contributed to a denser cake because the flour seemed to have trouble being incorporated nicely during the folding in. May I know if your batter looked aerated before the flour was folded in? Thank you!

      • SforB

        Hi Crystal, if you have issues folding your flour in, you can alternatively try only whipping the egg whites and sugar. Then mix the egg yolk, vanilla, oil and flour in another bowl before adding it back into the whipped egg whites + sugar + banana mixture.

    • SforB

      Hey! I’m pretty sure you can. I think this batch would total to around 24 muffins. You can bake them similarly at 160 degrees Celsius, but probably only around 25 minutes or until a clean toothpick comes out when you insert it in the center of the muffin. Good luck! Let me know how it goes 🙂

  • Rohana (Ms)

    Hi.. I hv baked your banana cake and followed the recipe and instructions.. it was fluffy and soft.. however, I had some problems cutting it, ( the cake has cooled down) .. the cake crumbled a little when I put the knife through it..I guess the texture was too soft maybe..did I do anything wrong? Thank You

  • Teegal

    I’m so amazed at what I saw on your blog,was searching for a nice site where I can get banana cake for my cousin’s wedding. Your banana cakes looks amazing and awesome.

    • Janice

      I haven’t had the pleasure of trying the banana cake from this famous bakery but the recipe posted was soo good it’s as if I already went to Malaysia. Thanks for this. The cake was soft and fluffy and moist. This is now my official banana cake recipe everytime I want a fix.

  • Victor

    As a JB-boy, born and bred, I have to say that this banana cake tastes as close to the original as one can possibly get without owning a massive ancient wood-fire oven. A banana cake that brings you home.

    • June

      This banana cake recipe is a keeper! Make sure to use fresh eggs and ingredients as stated. I reduce my sugar to 200g. Thanks S for sharing !

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