Banana Cake + Nutella Frosting

New York has gotten pretty sweet lately. The main reason? My partner-in-crime, Linda, is in town and brought some much needed energy to my apartment. Not only is this girl hilarious, she is super sweet and up for anything. Last year we had a crazy road trip to Los Angeles where we ate our faces off and lounged at the beach. Now, we are in a new city, a new location, a frenetic city.

It’s crazy how the internet can bring two people together and instantly they are friends. Even though we live millions of miles away, we talk everyday, share photos, and basically chat about our baking endeavors. Now if only she could live here forever…

 

 

Anyways, if the temperatures weren’t so high in this city, I would have welcomed her into my home with oodles of cakes and cookies. However, that is not the case so instead, I will relive this glorious banana cake I made about a month ago. In fact, Ms. Linda was the one who introduced me to this utterly divine recipe.

Imagine soft, sweet cake with mashed bananas, accompanied with rich and silky nutella frosting. Did I just render you into a food coma? Don’t be embarrassed, that was my general reaction when I saw the recipe.

Banana Cake with Nutella Frosting
Adapted from: ‘All Cakes Considered” by Melissa Gray via Linda
Yield: Serves 16

Ingredients:
125 g Butter, at room temperature
1 ½ cups Caster Sugar
1 ½ tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1 ½ cups Mashed Banana (About 3 Large Bananas)
2 Eggs
1 ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
½ cup Buttermilk
2 ½ cups all purpose flour

Nutella Frosting
½ cup Nutella
50 g Butter, room temperature
2 Big Tablespoons Condensed Milk (Or Milk Or Cream)
3 cups powdered sugar, sifted

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter the bottoms and sides of your 9 x 13-inch cake pan or line the pan with parchment paper and set aside.

In a freestanding mixer, beat the butter and sugar until white and creamy, about five minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, making sure to scrape the sides of the mixer down to better incorporate your ingredients. Add vanilla extract then stop the mixer. Mix the mashed bananas in with a wooden spoon, stopping after the bananas are only just incorporated. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and mix well. Finally, add the buttermilk and mix only until just blended.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 50 minutes to one hour or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool the cake in the tin for 15 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool completely.

For the frosting, beat the butter and Nutella until combined. Add icing sugar, a cup at a time until everything is smooth. Add the condensed milk and mix until glossy.

Spread the frosting onto the cooled cake.

Frosted slices can be stored, wrapped tight in a container, for up to three days. Unfrosted slices can be stored in the fridge for up to five days and then frosted. Serve at room temperature.