Description
This Banana Cake with Brown Butter Frosting is unbelievably moist and bursting with real banana flavor! It’s an incredible dessert experience like no other.
Ingredients
Banana Cake:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1–1/2 cups mashed banana
Brown Butter Frosting:
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, browned & cooled
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3–4 tablespoons whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line the bottom of two 8-inch round cake pans with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit. Lightly grease and flour both cake pans and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until each one is well combined. Mix in the vanilla.
- With the mixer on low speed, alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk, ending with the flour mixture, until well combined and batter is smooth. Stir in the mashed banana with a spatula until well distributed throughout the batter.
- Divide batter evenly among prepared cake pans. Bake cakes for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean. Let cakes cool in pans for 15 minutes before running a sharp knife around the edges and turning out onto wire racks to cool completely.
- To brown the butter for the frosting, place 1/2 cup butter in a light-colored pan over medium heat and whisk constantly as it melts. The butter will start to bubble and foam and then subside as the water evaporates and the milk solids start to turn a light brown color. Just as it starts to turn light brown and you smell that nutty aroma, remove it from the heat to let cool for about 15 minutes. (Once the butter starts to brown, it will race into burnt, so watch it carefully and remove from the heat as soon as it starts to brown.)
- Transfer the browned butter to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Whisk in 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time, beating on low speed, until well combined. Add 1 tablespoon milk at a time and beat on medium-high speed until frosting is fluffy and of spreading consistency. Add additional milk if the frosting is too thick or additional powdered sugar if the frosting is too thin to spread.
- Spread a small amount of frosting on the bottom of a cake stand or cake plate. Place one cake layer, top side up, on the cake stand. Spread with a generous layer of frosting. Top with the other cake layer and spread the remaining frosting on top of and all around the sides of the layered cakes.
- If desired, garnish the top of the cake with some banana slices that have been caramelized for 1-2 minutes on each side in the same pan that the butter was browned in.