Brown Butter Banana Cake

This One Layer Brown Butter Banana Cake is moist, tender, and filled with flavor, and smothered in a rich espresso cream cheese frosting.

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 35

Total Time 45

Ingredients

Espresso Cream Cheese Frosting

▢ 6 oz. cream cheese, cold block, full fat
▢ 4 tablespoon (56 g) (56g) unsalted butter, room temperature
▢ ¼ teaspoon salt
▢ 1½ cups (180 g) powdered sugar
▢ 1 tablespoon espresso powder

Instructions

Brown Butter

Melt butter in a medium sauce pan on medium heat. Stir the butter to make sure it melts evenly. Once the butter is completely melted, it will start to foam up. Continue stirring the butter. As it cooks, it will start to change into a deeper color. This could take 6-8 minutes.
6 tablespoon (84 g) unsalted butter
You'll start to notice a nutty aroma and the butter will begin to have brown specs at the bottom of the pan. Continue stirring and remove from the heat and pour into a heat-proof bowl and let cool slightly before continuing with recipe. The entire process of browning butter from start to finish should not take more than 10 minutes on medium heat.

Prep: Preheat the oven to 350℉ and line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
Mash the banana and set aside.
2 (223 g) (223g) large banana, very ripe (about 1 cup, mashed)
Mix dry ingredients: In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon, mix and set aside.
1½ cups (180 g) (180g) all purpose flour, 1½ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon nutmeg, ¾ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt
Mix Wet Ingredients: In a large bowl, add the slightly cooled brown butter and sugars and mix until well combined. Then add the eggs, oil, vanilla extract and mix. Then add the mashed bananas and buttermilk, and mix until incorporated.
½ cup (100 g) (100g) dark brown sugar, ⅓ cup (66.67 g) (66g) granulated sugar, 2 large eggs, 3 tablespoon vegetable oil, ½ cup buttermilk, 1½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Combine: Sift in the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Do not over mix.
Pour & Bake: Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Depending on your oven, it could take more or less time. If you feel like the top is browning too much, cover it loosely with foil. Start checking at 25 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let cool completely.

Espresso Cream Cheese Frosting

Beat: In a medium bowl, beat together the cream cheese and butter until combined and smooth, for about 3 minutes. Add the salt and espresso powder and beat until combined, then add the powdered sugar ½ cup at a time until each addition is incorporated, and beat for a few minutes until it's very smooth.
6 oz. cream cheese, cold, 4 tablespoon (56 g) (56g) unsalted butter, room temperature, ¼ teaspoon salt, 1½ cups (180 g) powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon espresso powder
Frost: Once cake is completely cooled, frost. Keep refrigerated.

Notes

Ripe bananas: If you don't have any ripe bananas but want to make this recipe, bake bananas on a lined baking sheet at 350 degrees F. for about 15 minutes until the peels are black.

Buttermilk: If you don't have any buttermilk on hand, add ½ tablespoon of vinegar to milk and let it sit and curdle for 5 minutes.

Keyword banana cake, brown butter banana cake, cream cheese frosting, espresso cream cheese frosting

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