Let Them Eat Bread or Cake
Last week I bought bananas to eat and forgot about them. Nothing new here, since this seems to be a pattern I often follow. Fortunately, they were not beyond hope, at least not for baking.
Around the same time, I had also bought two large jars of Nutella, that delicious hazelnut spread that is beyond addicting. What a perfect time to try these two ingredients together.
It took me a few rounds before I figured out exactly how I wanted to bake this. I started baking this in a loaf pan for the first two attempts, then switched to a rectangular pan and, finally, ended up right back where I started using a loaf pan. I think of breads being baked in loaf pans and brownies and cakes being baked in rectangular pans.
Why? I think it dates to my early bread baking days when this was the way things were done and I, originally, considered this recipe a loaf of bread. Nowadays, one can really use any size pan for a variety of desserts and breads.
The Banana Nutella Bread is moist and nearly as addicting as its signature ingredient. It can, truly, be served as is and you will have very happy eaters. However, I thought that a Nutella ganache would give it an additional WOW factor, which I always love.
Even though this could easily be a cake, especially with the ganache topping, I still call it bread. You can call it whichever you like, just as long as you bake it first. Chances are that you, too, will realize it just doesn’t matter with something this good!!!
| Banana Nutella Bread | | Print |
- Banana Nutella bread:
- 3 ripe bananas, divided
- 2¼ cups all purpose flour
- 1¾ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup sugar
- 12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, melted
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup Nutella
- Ganache topping:
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- 1 cup Nutella
- For the Banana Nutella bread:
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a 9” x 5” loaf pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- Mash 1 banana in a bowl and set aside. Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together and set aside.
- Beat 2 of the bananas, butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla in a mixing bowl fitted with a balloon whisk. Blend in the dry ingredients. Add the Nutella. Lastly, fold in the mashed banana.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.
- Bake at 350° for 1 hour, rotating the pan front to back halfway through. Cool completely.
- For the Nutella ganache:
- Warm the cream in either the microwave or on the stove until hot, but not boiling. Add the Nutella and stir until thoroughly blended together.
- Lift the parchment paper out of the pan and place this on a cutting board. Slice the Banana Nutella Bread and serve the Nutella ganache on the side.
- Betsy's tidbits:
- Spray the loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray before lining it with parchment paper. The paper will stay in place.
- The Nutella ganache will thicken as it sits.
