Why can't I ever get my banana bread

Maybe it is your oven. Try rotating the pan and/or moving it from one side to the other while baking. If the top looks brown put a foil on top so it won't brown any further.

Does the same thing happen with cakes?

I bake mine at 350° and the last 25 mins I put a sheet of foil over the top. I use a larger loaf pan, too.

How big is your loaf pan? I used to bake mine in a large pan and it would either not be baked all the way through or too brown. Now I use two smaller pans and it works out a lot better.

I make the worst banana bread. Just seems to always be gummy in the middle with the rest dries out. Otherwise I am a good baker. But banana bread is not good. Think I will try lowering the temp as suggested and maybe using a larger pan. Now if the weather would cool off so I could turn on my oven then I could give this a try.

I had the same problem with almost anything I baked in a dark loaf pan. Now I use a glass one (I can see before it gets too dark) and a lighter colored metal one. So far, so good

I also have had this problem, plus my banana bread always seems to be so much flatter than the recipe pictures I see. It's too hot to bake in my apartment right now, but I'll come back to this thread after we move out!

We rented a house once were the oven was about 75 degrees too hot. I must not be the brightest bear in the park because it took me months to figure out why everything I baked was messed up.

I suppose this is cheating, but I mix up the batter and put it into muffin tins. They always come out great.

I always bake my banana bread low and slow at 325 degrees and instead of using a traditional loaf pan, I use a long skinny loaf pan that measures 12" x 4" that I got from King Arthur Flour. If your pan is too wide and your batter too deep in the pan, it will not cook through evenly. Here is my all time favorite healthy banana bread recipe (modified from Cook's Illustrated Best Recipe)

2 cups white whole wheat flour (can use A/P flour also. This is a recipe where you can sneak in whole wheat flour without anyone noticing.)
1/4 cup ground golden flax meal (optional healthy boost that you don't even notice in finished product)
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 very ripe large bananas, mashed
1/4 cup full fat plain yogurt
2 eggs, beaten lightly
6 Tbsp butter, melted and cooled
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chopped, toasted pecans (optional)

Combine dry ingredients in medium bowl. Mix eggs, yogurt, mashed banana, butter and vanilla in large bowl. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Scrape batter into greased and floured tea loaf pan. Bake at 325 for about 55 minutes or until middle is set. Cool in pan for 10 minutes then remove from pan and finish cooling on a cooling rack. My kids love this bread when I leave out the pecans and sprinkle mini chocolate chips into the batter. I then bake it in mini muffin tins. Presto...mini muffin poppers...a quick and kid friendly snack

What recipe are you using?