Brown Butter & Labneh Banana Bread Cake

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9 × 5-inch loaf pan with butter and line it with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the two longer sides. (This overhang will act as a sling later on and aid in removing the bread from the pan. The parchment replaces the need to flour the pan, and it’s quite a bit cleaner. No need to butter and flour the parchment).

Brown the butter: Cut 10 tablespoons (11⁄4 sticks) butter into about 5 pieces and place them in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Melting the butter in smaller pieces helps it brown more evenly. Cook, swirling the saucepan frequently, until the butter foams up, the foam dies down, and the milk solids (those little white flecks) turn deeply golden brown, 5 to 6 minutes. Let cool.

Mix your dry ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (255g) flour, 11⁄2 teaspoons (9g) baking soda, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 11⁄2 teaspoons (4g) kosher salt.

Combine your wet ingredients:

–  Peel 4 ripe bananas, break them into thirds, and place in a large bowl. Using a fork or potato masher, mash the bananas until they are a very thick, mostly homogenous pulp.

–  Whisk in 1⁄3 cup labneh, 2 eggs, 1 cup (220g) dark brown sugar, fresh ginger, and 1 teaspoon (5g) vanilla until the mixture is homogenous, about 1 minute.

– Whisk the cooled butter into the wet ingredients, using a spatula to scrape any bits that are stuck to the pan— those contain alllll the flavor; don’t waste any of it!

Combine and bake:

– Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, scraping the bowl with a spatula, and whisk them all to combine. There may be a few floury patches remaining, but the batter should be mostly mixed.

– Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan, evening it out with the back of a spoon or a spatula. Peel 1 ripe banana and cut it in half lengthwise. Arrange both halves of the banana cut-sides up, spooning each other, on top of the batter. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon (11g) turbinado sugar (if using) evenly over the batter. This sugar will caramelize on the bananas in the oven, giving them a glossy brûléed effect.

– Bake the banana cake until deeply browned and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean, 1 hour 10 minutes to 1 hour 25 minutes. Let cool in the pan slightly before using the parchment overhang to remove it from the pan.

– Serve the banana cake warm or at room temperature with more labneh and flaky sea salt alongside.