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:
I first wrote this recipe for DIYS.com Homemade Battenburg < Chris’s favourite! Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream Cake Plum Crumble Bread Coconut Pineapple Bread Chocolate Caramel Orange Brownies Caramel stuffed Nutella Blondies Raspberry and white chocolate loaf And loads more….. Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links – which means if you buy the product I get a small commission (at no extra cost to you). If you do buy, then thank you! That’s what helps us to keep Kitchen Sanctuary running. The nutritional information provided is approximate and can vary depending on several factors. For more information please see our Terms & Conditions.
