Banana cake with brown butter cream cheese and miso salted caramel. This miso caramel banana cake is moist, not too sweet, and banana forward. The cake gets topped with a nutty vanilla bean brown butter cream cheese. After adding the icing, we then add in miso salted caramel on top of each piece. This is banana bread on steroids. The banana cake is even better than a classic banana bread, the cream cheese icing is insanely nutty with the addition of brown butter, and the miso salted caramel is that much better than the average salted caramel.

Banana cake with brown butter cream cheese and miso salted caramel

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 1 30

Cooling 1

Total Time 3 30

Servings 12

Ingredients

1 ½ cups mashed bananas
2 teaspoons lemon juice
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups white sugar
¾ cup butter
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
1 ½ cups buttermilk
1 batch brown butter cream cheese icing – linked below

Browned Butter Cream Cheese Icing

1 stick browned butter stick browned butter 113 grams
1 stick cream cheese 8 oz
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon optional
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar

Miso Salted Caramel

⅔ cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
1¼ cup sugar
¼ cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white miso paste
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into pieces

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.
Mash ripe bananas with lemon juice. Set aside
In another bowl, combine the dry ingredients- flour, baking soda, and salt
In the base of a kitchen aid or in a large bowl, cream the sugar and butter for 3-5 minutes until pale and fluffy. Add each egg, one at a time and the vanilla.
Next on low, alternate the dry ingredients with the wet, beginning and ending with the dry. Add in the banana until just evenly combined and pour into a greased 9×13 pan.
Bake until a toothpick comes out clean (~1 hour and 30 minutes)
Remove cake from the oven and cool (it can be put in the freezer directly for an extra moist taste)
Top with frosting and enjoy! (below)

Browned butter cream cheese icing:

In a small saucepan, add a stick of butter and place over medium high heat
Stir and keep a close eye until little bits of golden butter form
Once the butter gets golden, remove it quickly and move it to a new container to cool and ensure it does not burn. Wait for the butter to become solid again before using in the icing (you can pop it in the freezer to speed up this process)
In the base of a kitchen aid or large bowl with a hand mixer, add cooled, browned butter and cream cheese
On medium high speed, beat the cream cheese and butter until fluffy (around 2 minutes)
Add salt, cinnamon, and vanilla. Whip until combined
On low speed, add the powder sugar ½ cup at a time
Once all the sugar has been added, turn up the mixture and whip on medium high until light and fluffy (around 2 minutes)

Salted Caramel

In a medium pot, combine the sugar, water, salt, and corn syrup (use a pan larger than the contents as it will bubble to ~4x the contents) Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Then cook, without stirring, until the mixture is amber colored, 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from the heat. (Complete step 2 while the mixture is becoming an amber color)
While the sugar is heating, pour the heavy cream into a small pot. Add the vanilla to the cream. Place the pan over medium-high heat until it is just under a boil. Reduce the heat to low to keep the cream warm.
Slowly pour the warmed cream into the amber sugar syrup. At first, the mixture will boil furiously but then will simmer down. Add the miso paste and whisk until smooth. Add the lemon juice and cool for 10 minutes.
One tablespoon at a time, add the butter to the caramel. Whisk constantly after each addition. If not using, cool and refrigerate. The caramel will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 1 month.

Assembly:

Score the cake to cut it into 12 even square pieces. In the center of each piece add a dollop of cream cheese icing.
With the back of a spoon, create a circular indent in the cream cheese icing that is about the size of a tablespoon.
Fill each indent with a tablespoon of miso salted caramel