The infamous snack cake. Something that I have been seeing everywhere but never really knew anything about it - and now I am making and sharing this banana snack cake with sour cream fudge nutella frosting. Because, well, I love a good bandwagon. And since I never got on the Dalgona bandwagon of 2020, I figured I might as well get on this one.
What is a snack cake?
Yeah, no kidding, after seeing several recipes called "snack cake" or "snacking cake," I had to google it. Basically a snack cake is a small single layer cake that you cut into squares. My guess is that you tell yourself that it is a "just a snack" and henceforth believe it is not as caloric as an ACTUAL CAKE. Which, of course, is totally false. Well, totally false if you make it right.
I outdid myself on my first original banana snack cake here but by mounding on the most delicious sour cream fudge nutella frosting you will ever find. And by covering a single layer banana cake, and banana is a fruit...I snacked the sh-t out of this baby in about 1.5 days. One large square at a time. That is how I recommend you go about this cake too, large squares one at a time.
Tell me more about the frosting...
Tell me more about the frosting...With pleasure. This frosting is an adaptation of my absolute drop-dead go to favorite frosting that tops my blackout cupcake. It is a sour cream fudge frosting base with a few tweaks, like adding a massive amount of nutella, because who doesn't love nutella? It has a great consistency for a single layer cake as it is soft and super creamy. And sour cream adds that oh so perfect balance with a bit of tang.
Banana not your thing? Don't worry, I am not offended. My mom is not a banana fan either and only like two of my kids are banana fans. Here are some other spectacular options for a quick snack cake...
Banana snack cake with sour cream fudge nutella frosting
Ingredients
For the cake
- 1 ½ cups four
- ¾ cups sugar
- 1 ¾ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 super ripe bananas smashed
- ½ cup oil
- 1 egg
- 3 tablespoons buttermilk
For the frosting
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 tablespoons corn syrup
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 12 ounces bittersweet chocolate chopped
- ¾ cup of nutella
- ¾ cup sour cream at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 and put a rack in the middle of the oven. Butter or spray with cooking spray an 8-inch square baking dish.
- In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together the banana, egg, oil and buttermilk until totally combined. Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture and whisk just until combined - don't overdo it.
- Add cake batter to prepared pan, smooth out the top and bake for about 25-30 minutes. The center should be puffed and spring back when you lightly touch it. Cool on a rack in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out of the pan and cool completely on the rack.
- To make the frosting, bring cream, syrup, and salt to a boil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Remove from heat and stir in chocolate, sour cream, nutella and butter. Let sit, stirring occasionally, until chocolate and butter are melted and mixture is smooth and no streaks of white remain. Transfer to a medium bowl. Let frosting sit at room temperature, stirring every every once in a while. The frosting will look gross at first, but don't freak out - it will thicken and become shiny and spreadable in like an hour or so. Keep stirring until smooth. It should be the consistency of sour cream; if not, chill another 5 minutes and stir.
- Spread the frosting over the cooled cake and cut into squares.
