Banana Bread with Caramelized Bananas

Fluffy, tender banana bread topped with piles of caramelized bananas, caramel sauce and hazelnuts. The BEST way to use up those bananas.

Banana bread. The graveyard of brown bananas.

Wow, I really shouldn’t be given a job trying to entice people to read recipes.

Oh wait. Doh.

Ok, let’s try that again.

Tender, fluffy banana bread topped with caramelized bananas and crunchy hazelnuts.

Yeah, that’s probably a bit more like it.

I love a slice of banana bread with a cup of coffee. My oaty chocolate chip banana bread is my usual go-to, but this is next stage banana bread. I’d call this a dessert more than a snack.

Oh, and it also uses up FOUR bananas. Yep, that whole bunch that the kids left in the fruit bowl in favour of your expensive strawberries. We’re using them all.

We start by whisking the oil, egg and sugar. Then add in two roughly chopped ripe bananas and whisk again.

Next add  the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, and oats and stir.

Pour the mixture into a lined loaf tin and bake in the oven.

Meanwhile, make the caramel sauce. Heat brown sugar, butter and vanilla extract in a small pan.

Stir occasionally until the sugar melts. Once the caramel is a medium brown colour, add in the bananas and cook for 2-3 minutes until lightly caramelized. Then remove the bananas from the pan. Add the salt and cream to the sauce and stir.

Pour the sauce over the cake, then top with the bananas and hazelnuts.

Why vegetable oil?

Using vegetable oil in cakes helps the cake to be lighter and more moist than if using butter. Butter does impart a lovely taste in cakes, but in this cake, you can’t taste the flavour of the butter anyway, as the bananas taste takes over.

Variations on the toppings:

• Thinly slice a banana and arrange on top of the cake before putting in the oven – this adds a lovely decorative touch to the cake, and if you miss out the caramelized banana topping, the cake will keep for 3-4 days in a sealed container.
• Add in dark chocolate or even white chocolate chunks to the cake mixture
• Swap out the caramelized banana for banana frosting and melted dark chocolate
• Spoon whipped cream on top of the caramelized bananas – very naughty but so delicious!

The Banana Bread with Caramelized Bananas Recipe:

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5 from 2 votes

Banana Bread with Caramelized Bananas

By Nicky Corbishley

Fluffy, tender banana bread topped with piles of caramelized bananas, caramel sauce and hazelnuts. The BEST way to use up those bananas. 

Prep Time: 15 minutes mins

Cook Time: 1 hour hr

Total Time: 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Servings: 10

Course: Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine: American

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 large egg
• ▢ 75 ml (1/4 cup + 1 tbsp) vegetable oil
• ▢ 125 g (1/2 cup + 2 tbsp) soft brown sugar
• ▢ 2 bananas ideally these need to be older, well-speckled bananas, roughly chopped
• ▢ 150 g (1 cup + 3 tbsp) plain (all-purpose) flour
• ▢ ½ tsp baking powder
• ▢ ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ▢ 30 g (1/3 cup) rolled oats

Topping:

• ▢ 100 g (1/2 packed cup) soft brown sugar
• ▢ 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• ▢ ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ▢ 2 bananas thickly sliced
• ▢ ¼ tsp salt
• ▢ 120 ml (1/2 cup) heavy cream
• ▢ 70 g (1/2 cup) hazelnuts some chopped, some left whole

Instructions 

• Preheat the oven to 180C/350F (fan) and line a 2 lbs loaf tin with a loaf liner.
• In a stand mixer, whisk the egg, oil, and sugar until combined, then add the 2 chopped bananas. Whisk again until the banana breaks down and you’ve got a slightly lumpy liquid.
  1 large egg, 75 ml (1/4 cup + 1 tbsp) vegetable oil, 125 g (1/2 cup + 2 tbsp) soft brown sugar, 2 bananas
• Add the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, and oats to the wet mix. Stir together.
  150 g (1 cup + 3 tbsp) plain (all-purpose) flour, ½ tsp baking powder, ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda, 30 g (1/3 cup) rolled oats
• Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and bake in the oven for 40-50 minutes until golden. Check it’s done after 40 minutes by inserting a metal skewer in the cake, if it comes out clean, it’s cooked. If not, cook for a little longer.
• Take the cake out of the oven, leave to cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the tin and allow to cool further on a wire rack whilst you make the topping.
• For the topping place the sugar, butter, and vanilla extract in a small frying pan (skillet).
  100 g (1/2 packed cup) soft brown sugar, 2 tbsp unsalted butter, ½ tsp vanilla extract
• Heat over a medium heat until the sugar melts. You can stir a couple of times when most of the sugar has melted but don’t keep stirring.
• Once the sugar has melted and the caramel is a medium to dark brown colour (it’s okay if the butter is a little separated from the sugar, it will come back together) slice and add in the bananas. Cook for 2-3 minutes, turning once, until the bananas caramelize slightly. Don’t cook any longer or they’ll fall apart. Remove the bananas with a slotted spoon and place on a plate.
  2 bananas
• Place the pan with the sauce in the back over a low heat – you should still have about half the caramel sauce in there – and add the salt and cream. Stir over the low heat until the caramel sauce comes together.
  1/4 tsp salt, 120 ml (1/2 cup) heavy cream
• Pour the sauce over the banana cake and top with the caramelized bananas.
• Sprinkle on the hazelnuts before serving.
  70 g (1/2 cup) hazelnuts

Video

Notes

Note – ideally this cake should be eaten on the same day. Without the banana topping, the cake should keep for 3-4 days in a sealed container at room temperature.

Nutritional information is per serving 

Nutrition

Calories: 366kcal | Carbohydrates: 48g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 38mg | Sodium: 159mg | Potassium: 307mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 28g | Vitamin A: 300IU | Vitamin C: 4.5mg | Calcium: 53mg | Iron: 1.5mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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I first wrote this recipe for DIYS.com

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