Banana Brittle Caramel Cake with Nutella Buttercream

As many of you know, I always buy a bunch of bananas at the grocery store to make my favorite banana bread each week. But, this week I decided that I was going to do something different with the bananas. And I eventually came up with making a banana cake. This cake has layers of moist banana cake, filled with salted caramel sauce & homemade mixed-nut brittle, and then covered in a nutella buttercream. I also drizzled the cake with some left over salted caramel & topped it with crushed up brittle for decoration. This cake tastes like a giant heath toffee candy bar. The banana is sweet, but you get the salty, gooey caramel with the amazing crunch from the brittle. The nutella buttercream also compliments the cake really well. I mean nutella + bananas is one of my favorite combinations, especially in a crepe! I made this cake yesterday, and we already only have one piece left... that's how much we liked it! Enjoy :)

Leftover Salted Caramel & Crunchy Brittle Covering the Outside of the Cake 

Look at the Crunchy Mixed-Nut Brittle Topping

See Them Pieces of Brittle Tucked into the Salted Caramel Filling?

Banana Brittle Caramel Cake with Nutella Buttercream 

For the Banana Cake:

2C Sugar

1 Stick of Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature

4oz Cream Cheese, Room Temperature

2 Eggs, Separated

3C AP Flour

2t Baking Powder

1t Baking Soda

½t Salt

1C Buttermilk

3 Very Ripe Bananas, Mashed

1t Vanilla

For the Salted Caramel:

2C Sugar

1½ Sticks of Unsalted Room, Temperature

2t Sea Salt (plus a little extra for sprinkling on top of the finished caramel)

1 1/3C Heavy Cream, Room Temperature

For the Mixed-Nut Brittle Crumble:

2C Sugar

½C Water

1 Stick of Unsalted Butter

1/3C Light Corn Syrup

½t Baking Soda

¼C Cashews, Pecans, & Peanuts

Fleur de Sel, For Sprinkling    

For the Nutella Buttercream:

2 Sticks of Unsalted Butter, Softened

13oz Nutella

1-2C Confectioners’ Sugar (depending on how thick you want your buttercream)

6-8T Milk

  

Directions:

1. To Make the Banana Cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 6 cake tins with parchment paper and set them aside. In the bowl of a standing mixer, beat together the sugar and butter until light & fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, making sure each egg is completely incorporated before adding the next. Mix until the mixture is smooth and fluffy (do not over beat). In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Alternate adding the dry ingredients and buttermilk, beating each time until it is just incorporated, making sure to start and end with dry. Fold in the mashed bananas and vanilla until just combined. In a small bowl, beat the egg whites with a hand held mixer until stiff peaks form. Gently & carefully fold in the stiff egg whites into the batter (do not deflate them). Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the cakes cool in their pans for 10 minutes, and them invert them onto a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.
2. To Make the Salted Caramel: In a large saucepan, bring it up to medium-high heat. Pour in sugar and keep continuously whisking until the sugar begins to melt and the lumps dissolve. This sugar will begin to turn a light caramel color, at this point add in the salt and all of the butter. The mixture will begin to bubble, but keep stirring. Finally, take the pan off the heat, and pour in the heavy cream (once again, it will bubble, but just keep stirring) and stir until it is a smooth, consistent sauce. Pour this caramel into a bowl and let it cool completely before layering it between the cakes.
3. To Make the Mixed-Nut Brittle Crumble: In a large saucepan, combine the sugar, water, butter, and corn syrup and bring it to a boil. Cook over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, until the caramel is a light brown color and registers to 300 degrees on a candy thermometer, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and carefully stir in the baking soda and a pinch of cinnamon. The mixture will bubble. Stir in the nuts, and then immediately scrape the brittle onto a large rimmed, non-stick baking sheet. Using the back of a spoon, spread the brittle into a thin, even layer. Sprinkle the brittle with some fleur de sel let it cool completely, about 30 minutes. Break the brittle into large shards, and then, using a knife, cut the shards into pieces, resembling a crumble (that is small enough to sprinkle in between the layers).
4. To Make the Nutella Buttercream: In the bowl of a standing mixer, beat together the Nutella, butter, and milk until smooth and creamy. Beat in the sifted confectioners’ sugar until lightly and fluffy. Refrigerate the frosting until ready to spread onto the cake.
5. To Assemble the Cake: Lay down 1 banana cake layer on the cake stand and slather a thick layer of salted caramel sauce on top and sprinkle some mixed-nut brittle crumble on top of the caramel. Repeat the layers of banana cake and salted caramel sauce until all of it has been used. Once it has been assembled, frost the outside of the banana cake with the Nutella-Cream Cheese Frosting in a thick layer. Refrigerate the cake for 20-30 minutes. Once chilled, pour leftover caramel on top of the cake, letting the caramel slowly drip down the sides. And then, top the cake with crushed up mixed-nut brittle for decoration. 

source: best ever nut brittle. nutella buttercream. banana cake. 


*Check out Sweets for a Saturday for this recipe, as well as many others!!