Brown Butter Iced Banana Cake
I’ve altered this recipe from Kitchen By the Sea’s Banana Cake recipe, but they definitely perfected the ingredients for a cream cheese frosting… I want to put it on almost everything.
There’s a lot of steps to this one, but I promise it’s worth it!
INGREDIENTS YOU WILL NEED:
Cake
Butter, browned (instructions below) - 3/4 cup
Butter, chilled - 2 tbsp
Ripe bananas, mashed - 4 medium
White sugar - 1 1/2 cups
Brown sugar - 1/2 cup
Lemon juice
2 tbsp (for bananas)
1 tbsp (for milk)
AP flour - 3 cups
Eggs - 3
Baking soda - 1 1/2 tsp
Kosher salt - 1/2 tsp
Vanilla extract - 2 tbsp
2% milk - 1 1/2 cups
PAM non-stick spray (butter-flavored preferred, but normal is fine)
Frosting
Butter, browned (instructions below) - 1 stick (1/2 cup)
Cream cheese, room temp - 1 package (8oz)
Powdered sugar - 2 3/4 cups
Kosher salt - 1/4 tsp
Vanilla extract - 1 1/2 tsp
Cinnamon - 1/2 tsp
UTENSILS I’D SUGGEST HAVING:
9x13 casserole dish
Stand mixer (or hand mixer) + spatula attachment
Flat spatula
Fork
Two small bowls
Measuring cup
Sifter
Medium bowl
Medium to large saucepan
Toothpicks (for checking at the end)
ORDER OF OPERATIONS:
Mash ripe bananas with a fork, add lemon juice, and set aside.
Brown the butter and separate out for frosting and cake
Cream butter and sugar together, adding wet ingredients, then dry, alternating
Make frosting and set aside
Cool cake completely and frost before serving
INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat? Yes - 275 degrees F (135 C)
Cake (pt. one)
Spray a 9x13 pan with non-stick spray and set aside.
Mash bananas with a fork in a small bowl, stir in 2 tbsp of lemon juice, and set aside.
Mix 1 tbsp lemon juice into the milk and set aside
In a medium bowl, sift together your dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, and salt.
Brown Butter
Melt 1 stick of butter (for frosting) and 3/4 cup butter (for the cake) in the same saucepan over medium-high heat until browned.
Tip #1: Chop your butter into smaller chunks and stir every few minutes for faster melting. The butter will start to smell almost nutty and look amber colored when it’s ready.
Tip #2: butter goes through several stages during this process; melted, where it just looks regular and yellow; bubbling where it almost pops and makes noise as if it were grease; and foamy where the noise has calmed down and the color of the actual liquid has begun to change to a light amber. Watch carefully in this last stage - it can burn quickly.
Once browned, set aside 1/2 cup in a bowl, cover, and freeze to firm up (soft on top).
To the remaining butter, add 2 tbsp of chilled butter and then set aside in the freezer for 10 minutes to chill - it’s okay if this is still slightly warm when you move to the next step.
Cake (pt. two)
In your stand mixer, cream together the browned butter with white and brown sugar on medium high for 3-4 mins until fluffy.
Add vanilla extract and eggs one at a time, mixing in between.
Tip: crack your eggs into a small bowl first to avoid shells in the batter
On low speed, add half the dry ingredients to the mixer, then the milk mixture, and then the rest of your dry ingredients.
Mix in the mashed banana last until just combined (don’t overmix), then pour into the 9x13 pan.
Speed Tip: I recommend cleaning your mixer after this step to prep for frosting
Bake for 1 hour and 27 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean (a few crumbs fine, but not wet). The cake should be caramel brown and will start pull away from the edges as it cools
Tip: Make space in your freezer to cool the cake in the freezer for 15 mins or so before moving it to the counter. This speeds up the cooling process and keeps the case moist.
Once cooled, spread the frosting over the cake with a spatula, slice, and enjoy!
Frosting
Once your butter has somewhat solidified in the freezer, add it to your clean stand mixer bowl — with the spatula attachment — along with the cream cheese and whip until light and fluffy (2 minutes).
Next add in your salt, vanilla extract, and cinnamon until combined.
Lower your speed to low and add in the powdered sugar about a cup at a time until most of the sugar has started to mix in. Then turn up your speed to medium and mix until light and fluffy (2 minutes).
Frost, slice, and enjoy!
Tip: To store any leftovers: I recommend plastic wrap over the cake and it can rest on the counter; for the frosting, the bowl it’s in can also be plastic wrapped but you should place it in the fridge.
