I recently completed my Master’s degree. So of course I had to celebrate the achievement! For me, celebrating includes baking and decorating a cake….and of course eating it! So, naturally, I turned to a recipe out of my favorite baking cookbook: The Magnolia Bakery Handbook.

I had been eyeing this recipe for quite sometime. I loved the idea of banana in a cake and combined with chocolate chips I thought “How bad could it be?” Plus it used one of my favorite ingredients. Nutella! I swear, I think Nutella was originally designed for the Gods, but it somehow made its way to Earth. Luckily for us, we now get to taste this wonderful ingredient.

The cake itself was pretty basic. Flour, cake flour, eggs, sugar, butter, leavening, etc. And of course bananas and chocolate chips! I made the cake, put it in the oven, and when I took it out, I was slightly disappointed.

It looks like large, round bananas breads. Though disappointed, I didn’t give up hope. I like banana bread and maybe the cake wouldn’t be so dense after all.

Later, I made the Nutella buttercream and got a sugar high off the sample I tried. After decorating the cake, I let it sit out overnight (it didn’t need refrigeration). The next day we had my celebration and it was finally time to cut the cake!

It tasted good! It was extremely filling and very rich. That Nutella buttercream, man. It took Nutella to a whole extra level. I mean, why wouldn’t it? It was basically a gift from the Gods combined with sugar and butter. While I thought the cake tasted fine, it received a mix review from the family members.

The cake layers itself was slightly more dense than a normal cake, but not as dense as a banana bread slice which was good.

For me, it was another win from this cookbook. Bobbie Lord is truly one talented pastry chef!