Nutella & banana cake

Thr first time I experienced the wonderful combination of Nutella and banana was in Paris, eating a crepe in the Latin Quarter. It was the first thing I ate in Paris, after a day that started in Zurich, went to London and then ended in Paris. Ah, Europe: 3 countries in one day - all beautiful, all charming, each for its own different reasons... But I digress. Banana and Nutella. A great combination. And one day I was recalling the crepe and Paris, and then the idea popped into my head: what would happen if I put Nutella into a banana cake? So what happened? MAGIC, that's what!

I utilised my favourite super easy banana cake recipe, but adapted it to downgrade the sugar content to factor in the additional Nutella. It smelt delicious whilst baking and fresh out of the oven and was even better to eat. I've made this a couple of times now, and although it doesn't seem to replicate the Parisian magic, it still makes my tastebuds happy.

Ingredients

125g butter, cubed
1/4 cup caster sugar (I know this doesn't seem like much, but trust me, the Nutella will make up for it!)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 bananas, ripe and mashed
1 1/2 cups self raising flour
1 egg
1/4 cup milk (I used skim)
3/4 cup Nutella

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius and grease your cake tin. I used a bundt tin as I wanted to better see the swirl effect.
2. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and add the caster sugar and vanilla. Stir until the sugar is combined. Remove from the heat.
3. Add the banana and the milk to the pot, stir to combine.
4. Add the egg, stir to combine - make sure you don't add the egg straight after taking the pot off the heat because then you'll scramble them!
5. Add the self raising flour, stir with a wooden spoon until all mixed through.
6. Pour half the cake batter into the cake tin, then drop spoonfuls of the Nutella on top of the cake batter. Top with the remaining batter.
7. Using a butter knife, swirl the Nutella through the cake. If your Nutella is too hard, whiz it in the microwave for a few seconds before adding it to the cake to make it swirl better.
8. Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes, or unti a skewer comes out clean. Remove from oven and leave to cool in tin for 20 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to cool completely.

The cake was absolutely divine with a cup of tea to combat 3:30-itis, or with a tall glass of iced cold milk. I loved the chunks of banana that were evident throughout (I don't like to over mash my bananas so then I can get these delicious bits in my cakes / muffins), and especially loved the Nutella.

Look at the chunks of banana, and blobs of Nutella!

As you can see this recipe incorporates all the things that are quintessentially me - Nutella. Banana. Cake. No creaming of butter and sugar. And minimal pots / bowls to clean up! The Lazy Baker - I should change my blog name, but I think it's already taken!

thesuzchef x