“Ovenly” is a bakery that was started in, where else, Brooklyn. It was the love child of two self-taught cooks, Agatha Kulaga and Erin Patinkin. The pair are given to experimentation which has resulted in out-the-door lines of people waiting to buy items like their Bloody Mary scones and caramel bacon hot tarts. It’s also grown their bakery to 5 locations—four of them in Brooklyn—and the fifth part of the Urbanspace Vanderbilt Market right outside Grand Central Station at 43rd Street. A complete list of their locations and hours appears after the recipe for their phenomenal Banana Nutella Coffee 
Cake. But if you’re nowhere near New York, Ovenly’s superb cookbook is the next best thing (Ovenly. Sweet and Salty Recipes for New York’s most creative bakery. (Harlequin Books 2014). That’s where you will find not only their recipes, but wonderful chapters on everything for tools to ingredients and the story of how each woman came to become a baker.
Last weekend, we celebrated our god-daughter Olivia’s 19th birthday. She and her parents stayed with us which gave Andrew an opportunity to go on a baking spree all based around the tastes of the birthday girl. Olivia has an affinity for Nutella. Andrew was a complete Nutella virgin. Nutella is the brand name of a sweetened hazelnut cocoa spread. It’s made by the Italian company Ferrero. In fact, its invention is attributed to one Pietro Ferrero, a baker in Alba in Piemonte (Piedmont), an area of Italy known for growing hazlenuts. His first production of Pasta Gianduja was modest but when Ferrero’s son revamped his father’s original recipe and called it Nutella,
the product was an instant success. Now over 50 years old, there’s even a World Nutella Day (February 5th) and Ferrero is said to use 25 percent of the global supply of hazelnuts just to make Nutella.
Agatha and Erin write “We love the combination of sweet bananas ad creamy Nutella for coffee cake filling. Nutella retains its consistency when baked inside a dough or batter, so it looks beautiful when the cake is sliced.” Andrew found that the two ripe bananas weren’t enough to completely cover the layer of cake. He ended up using four. To spread the 
Nutella over the bananas, he relied on the “Jackson Pollack method” drizzling the required ½ a cup evenly. The end result is a crunchy crumb topping, a heavenly moist cake concealing a surprise: a layer of banana and of course, Nutella. Here is the recipe:
Ovenly's Banana Nutella Coffee Cake
A perfect coffee cake with a surprise in the center--a luscious layer of Bananas and Nutella
Ingredients
- For the Cake:
- 1 C of unsalted butter
- 3 3/4 C all purpose flour
- 2 C sugar
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 C buttermilk
- 4 eggs at room temp
- 1/4 C sour cream
- 2 tsp vanilla
- For the Filling:
- 2 ripe bananas, peeled and sliced thinly
- 1/2 C Nutella spread
- 1/4 C brown sugar
- For the Topping:
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 1 C all purpose flour
- 3 Tbsp sugar
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1 1/4 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 13×9 inch pan.
- Step 2 Melt the 1 C of butter and set aside.
- Step 3 In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and baking soda.
- Step 4 In a separate bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, eggs, sour cream, vanilla, and melted butter.
- Step 5 Using a spatula, mix the dry into the wet until combined.
- Step 6 Layer half the batter into the pan, lay the sliced bananas on top and drizzle the nutella spread. You may need to warm the spread to make it thin and pourable.
- Step 7 Next, carefully layer the remaining batter on top of the bananas and nutella. I used a spatula to smooth out the batter, it is thick batter.
- Step 8 Make crumble topping-
- Step 9 Melt 4 Tbsp of butter and set aside to cool.
- Step 10 Whisk remaining dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add the melted butter with your hands or a folk and mix until crumbly.
- Step 11 Sprinkle topping over coffee cake batter.
- Step 12 Bake for 50-55 minutes until set when a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Step 13 Cool on a wire rack before slicing.
- Step 14 Make 12 generous squares
Here’s the list of Ovenlys…
Ovenly Greenpoint
31 Greenpoint Ave, Brooklyn NY 11222
Monday-Friday: 7:30am-7:00pm
Saturday & Sunday: 8:00am-7:00pm
Ovenly Urbanspace Vanderbilt Market
230 Park Ave, New York, NY 10169
Monday-Friday: 8:00am-9:00pm
Saturday & Sunday: 9:00am-5:00pm
Ovenly Park Slope
210 Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn NY 11217
Monday-Friday: 7:30am-8:30pm
Saturday & Sunday: 8:00am-7:00pm
Ovenly Williamsburg:
43 North 5th Street Brooklyn NY 11249
Monday-Friday: 7:00am to 8:30pm
Saturday & Sunday: 8:00am-7:00pm
Ovenly Studio ONE54:
154 Franklin Street
Brooklyn, NY 11222
