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Banana cake with hot sugar crust

Forget chocolate chip banana cake, that's boring. Try this banana cake with hot sugar crust which is richly delicious, light, moist in all the right places. It's topped with an ultra-thin and crisp sugary crust that crackles with every blissful bite.

Prep:

5

minutes

Cook:

30

minutes

TOtal:

35

minutes

Ingredients

Nilla Wafer Crust

  • 1/2 stick of unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  • 1 box of Nilla Wafers, crushed + some for garnished topping

Banana Cake

  • 3 eggs separated, room temperature
  • 1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar + 3 tbsp
  • 2 ripe bananas
  • 1 tbsp almond extract*
  • 1.5 tbsp fresh lemon juice
  • 3/4 cup or 94 grams all-purpose flour
  • 1.5 tbsp baking powder
  • 1.5 tsp ground cinnamon + some for garnish
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed

Hot Sugar Crust

  • 1 ripe banana
  • 1 cup boiling water

Recipe Notes:

* Almond Extract – can substitute vanilla extract if needed.

Instructions

Nilla Wafer Crust

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Pulse cookies in a blender or food processor. Add melted butter and combine until you get a course-like sand texture. Press into bottom of pan until crust forms. Flatten with back of hand if needed. Allow to set in freezer for 20 minutes.

Banana Cake

  1. In a medium bowl, add mostly wet ingredients – 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 1 stick of softened butter, 3 egg yolks, 2 mashed bananas, 1 tbsp almond extract and 1.5 tbsp lemon juice. Mix.
  2. Add dry ingredients – add 3/4 cup flour, 1.5 tbsp baking powder and 1.5 tsp cinnamon.
  3. In a small bowl, beat egg whites. As soft peaks form, add 3 tbsp granulated sugar. Beat again until stiff peaks form. Gently fold into cake mixture. Its okay to see large white lumps. Slowly pour cake batter into then pan over the Nilla Wafer crust.
  4. Generously sprinkle 1/3 cup brown sugar over the entire dish. Do NOT mix.

Hot Sugar Crust

  1. Over medium-heat heat in a small pot, whisk 1 cup of hot water with remaining mashed banana. Bring to a boil.
  2. Gently pour water mixture over the brown sugar. Do NOT stir – even if it's tempting. This is key.
  3. Bake in oven for 25-30 minutes until crust turns golden brown and the cake is firm (not jiggly).

Serve

  1. If desired, sprinkle cinnamon over cake and serve warm with vanilla ice cream. Enjoy!