Banana Cake with Whipped Sea Salt Caramel
An exciting way to use up ripe bananas. Flavorful banana cake layers frosted with whipped sea salt caramel. This is a great celebration cake that is perfect anytime of year! Yield: 9-inch cake
Prep Time: 20 minutes mins
Cook Time: 30 minutes mins
Assembly: 15 minutes mins
Total Time: 1 hour hr 5 minutes mins
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 14 slices
Calories: 676kcal
Banana Cake:
- ¾ cup unsalted butter softened
- 1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs room temp
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 4 ripe medium sized bananas mashed
- 3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup buttermilk
- ¼ cup sour cream
Whipped Sea Salt Caramel:
- 1 ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup water
- 1 cup heavy cream heated
- 2 teaspoon fine sea salt or kosher salt
- 1 ¾ cup unsalted butter softened, cut into tablespoons
Banana Cake:
Preheat oven to 350° F. Line two 9-inch round cake pans with parchment paper. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and mix until creamy. Add eggs one at a time and mix until incorporated.
Add vanilla and mashed bananas. Mix until combined.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
In another bowl, mix together buttermilk and sour cream. NOTE: It will be chunky, that's okay!
Add ⅓ of dry mixture to mixing bowl, followed by half of buttermilk. Repeat and end with remaining ⅓ of dry mixture. Mix until flour is incorporated into batter.
Divide batter between the two prepared cake pans. Smooth out and level batter using mini off spatula or spoon.
Bake for 30-40 minutes, rotating pan halfway thru baking. Insert toothpick in center of cake to check for doneness. Toothpick should come out clean. Otherwise, bake for another 5-10 minutes or so.
Cool cake in pan for 5 minutes. Then loosen edges of cake with an offset spatula. Remove cake from pan and let cool to room temperature on wire rack.
Whipped Sea Salt Caramel:
Using a heavy bottomed sauce pot, heat sugar and water on high heat. Let sugar melt. Do not stir or agitate mixture to prevent unwanted crystallization.
Lower heat and allow syrup to color. Remove from heat once sugar syrup is aromatic and amber in color.
Warm up heavy cream in the microwave for 1 minute. Add about ⅓ of warm cream to sugar syrup and whisk. BE VERY CAREFUL. The mixture will bubble and steam vigorously. Add remaining warm cream and continue to whisk until mixture has slightly cooled.
Add butter and salt. Whisk until mixture is homogenized. Let cool to room temperature.
Transfer cooled caramel to the bowl of stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment. Whip caramel on medium speed for 5-10 minutes until caramel has thickened to the consistency of buttercream and is much lighter in color.
Assembly:
Once cake has cooled to room temperature, slice each cake into two even layers.
Place one cake round on cake board. Spread about ½ cup of whipped caramel frosting on cake using an offset spatula. Repeat with remaining cake layers.
Chill cake in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Let cake sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes before slicing into.
Ingredients:
- Any milk or milk alternative may be used in place of buttermilk
- Greek yogurt, cream fraiche, or whole milk yogurt may be used in place of sour cream
Calories: 676kcal, Carbohydrates: 73g, Protein: 6g, Fat: 42g, Saturated Fat: 26g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g, Monounsaturated Fat: 11g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 151mg, Sodium: 569mg, Potassium: 220mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 49g, Vitamin A: 1397IU, Vitamin C: 3mg, Calcium: 76mg, Iron: 2mg