Banana Nutella Cake

I keep reading this recipe in my Alice's TeaCup cookbook and wanting to make it, but then save the ripe bananas to make The Best Ever Banana Bread. This time around, the ripe bananas made their way into this recipe. And am I happy about it! It is a two-layer cake, but I frosted one layer for us at home, and the other layer got frosted and sent to school, to my sons joy and excitement (without the Nutella layer to keep it nut-free)! The recipe below will describe it as a two-layer cake. 

Makes one 8-inch two layer cake

From Alice’s TeaCup

Ingredients

CAKE

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 cups buttermilk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 very ripe bananas

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup / 8oz cream cheese, at room temperature

3 cups confectioners’ sugar

FILLING

2 cups Nutella

Directions

1. To make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350F. Have ready two 8-inch round pans
2. In a medium bowl whisk together the dry ingredients
3. In a large bowl, use a mixer to cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. One at a time, add the eggs and mix until well blended. With the mixer set to low, add a little bit of the flour mixture at a time, alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla, mixing just until smooth. 
4. Use a spatula to gently fold in the bananas. 
5. Pour the batter evenly between the two cake pans, and bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Set the layers aside to cool completely in the pans before frosting the cake.
6. To make the frosting: Use a mixer to cream the butter, cream cheese, and sugar until light and fluffy.
7. Frost each layer with Nutella and stack them. Spread the cream cheese over the top and sides. 

Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Sunday morning baking. One of the most therapeutic ways for me to begin this lazy weekend day. While my daughters were napping, my son and I leisurely baked these cupcakes away. Lately, my freezer has had a ton of ripe bananas, with my kids love for all things banana. Thank you Alice's TeaCup for sharing this recipe in your cookbook and rescuing those two very ripe bananas. 

The cupcakes turned out moist, deliciously sweet, with a perfect slightly crusty top. All in all, this recipe is a keeper for me, and one that I will surely re-make.

The book suggests that they are delicious unfrosted, and true enough, they were delicious with and without the frosting. 

Makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

2 very ripe bananas

¾ cup canola oil

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 stick (½ cup) butter, at room temperature

1½ cups cream cheese, at room temperature

3 cups confectioners’ sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Mash the bananas in a small bowl, and set it aside.
3. In a large bowl, use a mixer to combine the oil and sugar until fully mixed. 
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, and then the vanilla, and keep mixing until smooth. 
5. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. With the mixer set at the lowest speed, add the flour mixture a little at a time, mixing until all is combined and the batter is smooth. Use a spatula to fold in the bananas by hand.
6. Fill a nonstick muffin pan or 12 cupcake cups half-full with batter, and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick stuck into the middle comes out clean. Set aside to cool completely in the pan.
7. Make the frosting: use a mixer to cream the butter and cream cheese in a large bowl until fully combined and smooth. With the mixer set on the lowest speed, slowly add the confectioners’ sugar, mixing until it is completely incorporated and the frosting is smooth.
8. Use an offset spatula to frost the cupcakes with the cream cheese frosting. (For neater cupcakes, you can put the frosting in a pastry bag and pipe it onto the tops.)

Mocha Chocolate Chip Cake

There is something about a classic tiered cake on a cake stand, with a ton of frosting on it, a candle in the center and a family singing "Happy Something" around the dinner table. Well, it was my aunt and uncles 18th anniversary. One of my favorite aunt and uncle ever! They've given me two fabulous cousins, and it was so good having all four of them visit us in New York. 
So when it came to baking a cake for their anniversary, I reached out for one of my favorite cookbooks– Alice's Tea Cup and decided to make the Mocha Chocolate Chip Cake that they rave about. Now I understand why— and hopefully you will soon too!


As the book says: If you like coffee (coffee to drink, coffee ice cream, iced mocha lattes, or all of the above), prepare to never make another cake again!


The recipe below is the original recipe from the book– Jean's Not-Yet-but-Soon-to-Be-Famous Mocha Chocolate Chip Cake. The only change I made was from the recipe was that I used my electric stand mixer instead of mixing it by hand. The rest remains the same.


Makes one 8-inch 2-layer cake


Ingredients
For the Cake
1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups turbinado sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour (Alice's Tea Cup recommends Hecker's unbleached flour)
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 level teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons 2% or whole milk (I used whole milk)
3/4 cup to 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, to taste


For the Frosting
8 heaping teaspoons instant espresso powder
7 cups (two 1-pound boxes) confectioners' sugar
2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter, at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 to 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips


Method

1. To make the cake, preheat the oven to 350F, and butter and flour two 8-inch round cake pans, and mix well. Set them aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar by hand. Add the eggs and vanilla, and mix well. 
3. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt, also by hand. Add half the flour mixture to the wet mixture, and mix thoroughly. Then mix in half the milk,  followed by the remaining flour mixture, and then the remaining flour mixture, and then the remaining milk, mixing after each addition. 
4. Add the chocolate chips, and mix again.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the cake has pulled away from the sides of the pan and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Set the cake layers aside on a wire rack to cool thoroughly before removing from the pans and frosting.
6. To make the frosting, combine the espresso powder with 6 to 10 teaspoons boiling-hot water (use less water for a strong mocha flavor and more water for a milder flavor). Set aside.
7. In a large mixing bowl, thoroughly mix one-third of the confectioners' sugar with the butter, salt, and vanilla. Add the next one-third of the sugar, then the final third, mixing well after each addition. 
8. Add the espresso a little at a time, mixing well as you go, until the frosting has reached the desired consistency. 
9. Add the chocolate chips and mix again.
10. To build the cake, frost both layers and stack them; then frost the sides of the cake. (Be sure to wait until the layers have cooled fully; you don't want to melt the chocolate chips!)