Banana, Chocolate & Nutella Layer Cake!

Sometimes, recipes come together thanks to the lack of ingredients on-hand, and a little bit of creativity.

I really wanted to bake, but was out of ideas as to what. I had two small bananas about to spoil and knew those needed to be used, in addition to the bottom of a carton of buttermilk I was determined to not throw out. I was thinking a banana cake with cream cheese frosting sounded like a nice treat, but to my dismay, I did not have an ounce of cream cheese on-hand. I did however have a handful of squares of baking chocolate and a nice full jar of Nutella, and decided to just go for it with a new flavor combination! So behold, the birth of my Chocolate Nutella Banana Layer Cake!

It is a very simple recipe, but hopefully something a little off the beaten path and therefore a nice treat for the friends you choose to share with 🙂

INGREDIENTS

Banana Cake

1/2C unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing pans

2C unbleached all-purpose flour

1C granulated sugar

3 eggs, seperated

1 large or two small mashed ripe bananas

1t baking soda

1t baking powder

1/2t salt

1/2C buttermilk

1t vanilla extract

 

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

8T butter at room temp

4C sifted confectioners sugar

6T milk or cream (use more if needed)

2t vanilla extract

4oz baking chocolate, unsweetened

1 small jar Nutella (USE AS MUCH AS YOU WANT!! 🙂

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour two 9-inch cake pans.

With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add egg yolks one at a time and beat well. Add bananas.

Sift your dry ingredients together. With a wooden spoon, add the dry ingredients to the wet, stirring only until combined.

Add buttermilk and vanilla, again stirring only to combine.

Back to the electric mixer – take your bowl of egg whites and whip them until soft peaks form. Gently fold them into batter.

Pour the cake batter into your two pans. Set your oven rack to the middle and cook your cake for 25-30 minutes, until a knife inserted comes out clean. Let the cakes cool at least 10 minutes before removing from the pan.

Once the cake has cooled completely, it’s time to whip up your frosting.

Melt your baking chocolate on the stove top with a double boiler. Let it cool but not harden.

In the meantime, whip your butter with your electric mixer, and slowly add the confectioners sugar, making sure not to stir so fast that it dusts up on you.

Now, add the melted chocolate and vanilla. Lastly, add the milk 2 tablespoons at a time until the desired consistency is reached (more milk = runnier frosting, less milk = thicker frosting.

To frost the cake, start by leveling your cake layers. then plop a whole bunch of that coveted Nutella in the middle, spreading as your filling. I used about 6 ounces (1/2 a small jar), but you can incorporate more if you are a huge Nutella fan.

Then, stack your cake and apply a thin crumb layer, sealing in the Nutella filling. Finish frosting by either plopping the entire rest of the frosting on top and smoothing it down over the sides, or with a piping bag (that would be the less messy approach).

I served immediately, but noticed that the banana flavor really set nicely overnight and was especially delicious with our morning coffee the next day!