A few weekends ago, I visited my in-laws to celebrate my mother in law’s birthday. I wanted to make a dessert, but to be honest it’s hard to make something new with different ingredients, hoping everyone will enjoy it.
I decided to stick to two flavours I knew that everyone at the dinner would enjoy, chocolate and banana. I had some mascarpone left from a previous dessert so I thought, why not make a cheesecake?
This cheesecake was really simple to make and is perfect when hosting because it is made the night before. Not everyone likes cheesecake and I feel it’s because cream cheese can sometimes be a little overpowering. Switching to marscapone and heavy cream, it allows the banana and chocolate to shine while maintaining that rich and creamy texture.
For the crust, I added organic cacao powder with my graham crackers to give it an extra chocolatey taste.
Adding real banana gave it a special flavour and made the cake a little more authentic. Make sure you use ripe bananas for the recipe, it makes a difference.
Nutella Banana Cheesecake
Ingredients:
Crust
- 250 grams of graham crackers
- 2 tablespoons of organic cacao powder
- 8 tablespoons of butter, unsalted (melted)
Filling
- 1 container of marscapone cheese, 475 grams
- 1 cup of heavy cream
- 1/2 cup of Nutella, plus a couple of tablespoons for the top layer
- 2 tablespoons of sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 tablespoon of cornstarch
- 3 bananas, smashed
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
Directions:
The Crust
- Preheat oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit
- Crush the graham crackers using a food processor.
- Add cacao powder and combine.
- Melt butter and pour over crushed cookies in the processor.
- Continue to pulse until the ingredients combine and pack slightly when you pinch it
- Press cookie mixture with a back of a spoon into the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan.
- Bake 13-15 minutes. Set aside and let cool completely.
- Reduce oven to 300 degrees.
The Filling
- In a mixing bowl, beat the heavy cream until soft peaks form.
- Add the marscapone cheese and on medium beat until fluffy.
- In a small bowl combine sugar and cornstarch.
- Gradually add the sugar mixture and beat until creamy and smooth.
- Add vanilla extract and mix again until well combined.
- Add one egg at a time, combining well after each one.
- Reserve about 1/3 of cream mixture in a separate bowl.
- Add the smashed bananas into the remaining cream mixture and combine well.
- Add Nutella over the reserved 1/3 of cream mixture and mix well until incorporated (if you want it to appear a little darker, you could mix some cacao powder).
- Add the banana cream mixture over the graham crust.
- Gently add Nutella mixture on top and use a spatula to spread evenly.
- Bake for 45-55 minutes.
- Turn off the heat and leave it in the oven for another hour without disturbing the cake.
- Remove and run a sharp knife completely around the inside edge of the pan. Let it cool completely at room temperature.
Nutella Drizzle
- Place about two tablespoons of Nutella in a small Ziploc bag. Cut one of the bottom corners (not the part that closes).
- Drizzle the Nutella however you like over the cheesecake.
- Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Enjoy!
Antonietta xo
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whoah I should try this, looks delicious!