Momofuku Banana Hazelnut Cake – Pastry Workshop Recipe

You guys know how much I like Momofuku desserts by now. There’s plenty of Cristina Tosi’s recipe on my blog, some of them similar to this Momofuku banana hazelnut cake in terms of construction and layering! I do love how straight forward Cristina is with her Momofuku concept, how she found her own path, her own way of creating desserts and how it works for her. She doesn’t pretend to be something she is not and pardon me, that is enough! She’s fully aware of what her desserts represent and she doesn’t want more than that. I strongly believe in finding your limit and in terms of style and work as well. There are things I love doing, but at the same time there are certain things (yeast dough or sugar paste work, I am looking at you) that I have no interest in. But that is fine, I don’t need or want to know everything. But what I do know, I try to make it shine. In fact, I think that is the key to success – learning something you are passionate about and being damn good at it, being an expert, knowing more than anyone else. The path there is fun, that is for sure, and the rewards are high as well!

Momofuku banana hazelnut cake

This Momofuku banana hazelnut cake is a huge surprise with its intense hazelnut flavor and the delicate bananas. The final taste is well balanced though so you can easily taste both elements in one single bite. The layers look so pretty and the cake is so easy to make once you have everything ready! I do recommend making all the elements ahead of time and then just assembling everything in no more than 10 minutes. 6 more hours in the fridge and your Momofuku banana hazelnut cake is done!

The layers of the cakes are:

• banana sponge cake
• 55g milk for soaking the sponge
• banana milky cream
• hazelnuts ganache
• hazelnut crunch
• hazelnut frosting
• fudge sauce and hazelnut brittle – used in other elements of the cake

Overall, the cake is quite complex – plenty of elements to be made. But at the same time, if you organize yourself well, you can finish it in just a few hours. What I always do is to start with the things that need cooling down before using or the things that need to set in the fridge and so on. It gets much easier once you have everything cooked or baked on the table and you start assembling.

I love this cake for its simplicity, for not being too complicated visually speaking, for the fun you have building up all these layers and for its intense taste. I must say this is my favorite Momofuku cake so far! I did however change a few things in the recipe, mostly the amount of sugar added since I do find Cristina’s recipes to be overly sweet for our taste. And I was left with a cake that has this amazing flavor of hazelnuts and bananas, a cake that is creamy and intense, beautiful at the same time.

My little helper this time was the Kenwood Titanium Chef mixer – great quality, good accessories, not as loud while working, very elegant as well. Definitely recommended after having tested it for the last couple of days with both easy jobs like meringues, but also kneading bread or brioche!

Kuddos for the amazing photography to my great friend Pupile Gustative. Check out her website, her work is amazing!

Momofuku Banana Hazelnut Cake

This Momofuku Banana Hazelnut Cake has the Momofuku specific layering, but more flavor and texture than you can imagine. The banana and hazelnut go perfectly together, creating an amazingly delicious cake.

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Prep Time 2 hours hrs

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Resting time 10 hours hrs

Total Time 13 hours hrs

Rezultat –10 slices

Ingrediente

 

1x2x3x

Banana sponge cake

• 85 g butter (softened)
• 200 g white sugar
• 50 g egg
• 110 g buttermilk
• 20 g vegetable oil
• 225 g banana slices
• 225 g all-purpose flour
• 3 g baking powder
• 3 g baking soda
• 2 g salt

Hazelnut ganache

• 60 g heavy cream
• 10 g milk
• 60 g milk chocolate
• 85 g hazelnut paste
• 50 g fudge sauce (recipe follows)
• 1 g salt

Fudge sauce

• 30 g dark chocolate 70%
• 15 g cocoa powder
• 100 g glucose syrup
• 20 g white sugar
• 60 g heavy cream

Hazelnut crunch

• 100 g hazelnut paste
• 80 g hazelnut brittle (recipe follows)
• 80 g paillete feuilletine
• 15 g dark chocolate 50-60%
• 0.5 g salt

Hazelnut brittle

• 100 g white sugar
• 60 g hazelnuts (roasted)

Banana diplomat cream

• 225 g banana
• 75 g heavy cream
• 85 g milk
• 80 g white sugar
• 25 g cornstarch
• 2 g salt
• 60 g egg yolk
• 5 g gelatin + 30g water
• 165 g heavy cream (whipped)

Hazelnut frosting

• 25 g butter (softened)
• 65 g hazelnut paste
• 20 g powdered sugar
• 0.5 g salt

Instructiuni

Banana sponge cake

• Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
• Mix the butter and sugar in the bowl of your mixer until light and pale.
• Add the egg and mix at least 5 minutes. Stream in slowly the oil, followed by the buttermilk. Don’t add too much at once as it will cause the emulsion to break. It is crucial to keep the mix as smooth and emulsified as possible.
• Whip the mixture for 8 minutes on medium to high speed until double in volume.
• Add the banana slices and mix just until they break into smaller pieces.
• Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until combined.
• Spread the batter in a 30x25cm tray and bake in the preheated oven at 170C for 15-20 minutes.
• Cool down then cut 3 discs of 16cm diameter. Usually the third disc needs to be built up from the leftovers, but that is ok, it will hold up. Keep aside.
• Hazelnut ganache:

Hazelnut ganache

• Combine the cream and milk and warm up.
• Melt the chocolate.
• Pour the hot liquid over the chocolate and mix with a blender, adding the hazelnut paste and fudge sauce, as well as salt while blending.
• Cover with foil and place aside.

Fudge sauce

• Combine the glucose, sugar and cream in a pot and warm up.
• Pour over the chocolate and cocoa powder and mix to combine.
• Scale what you need and keep covered in a bowl.

Hazelnut crunch

• Melt the chocolate then mix it with the remaining ingredients.
• Keep at room temperature until needed.

Hazelnut brittle

• Caramelize the sugar until golden brown.
• Mix it with the hazelnuts then transfer on a tray lined with baking paper.
• Cool down then break into small pieces in a kitchen machine.
• Scale what you need and keep aside.

Banana diplomat cream

• Bloom the gelatin in water.
• Mix the egg yolk with salt and sugar, then add the cornstarch and mix well.
• Blend the banana with the cream and milk then mix with the egg yolk and starch.
• Transfer in a small pot and cook until the cream is stiff and shiny. It takes around 1 minute from the moment it starts to boil.
• Remove from heat and add the gelatin.
• Cool down in the fridge covered with foil.
• Whip the heavy cream.
• Mix the chilled banana cream in the bowl of your mixer until smooth and creamy again. Fold in the whipped heavy cream.

Hazelnut frosting

• Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl.
• Keep the frosting aside until needed.

To assemble the cake

• Arrange all your cake components on your working table – it will be much easier to assemble the cake with everything on sight.
• Line a 16cm cake ring with acetate sheets.
• Place a layer of banana sponge on the bottom of the ring – usually this first layer is the one that you made out of leftovers. Press it slightly then brush it with milk.
• Spoon half of the hazelnut ganache, followed by 1/3 of the hazelnut crunch.
• Next layer is 1/2 of the banana cream, followed by another banana sponge, milk soak, the other half of ganache, 1/3 of crunch, the other half of banana diplomat and the final layer of banana sponge.
• Brush the final sponge with milk then cover with the hazelnut frosting.
• Decorate with the 1/3 of crunch you have left from assembling the layers.
• Refrigerate for at least 8 hours.
• Enjoy!
• RECIPE

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