Chocolate Banana Cake
An easy to bake Chocolate Banana Cake recipe, which gives perfect results, using a fool-proof method, every time. Adding in chocolate in to a traditional Banana-Bread recipe gives it a rich indulgence, and complements the banana taste. The bananas you need to use should be over-ripe, this gives the banana bread its texture, weight and taste. Just turned yellow, or green-yellow bananas, should not be used, they are too firm, and the natural sugars which we want have not started to break down yet.
Chocolate Banana Cake Recipe
Makes 1 loaf – and serves 6 to 8 people. This Chocolate Banana Cake is perfect for batch-baking (particularly if you can pick up some cheap over-ripe bananas from your fruit market) make enough to eat for breakfast, brunch or tea and then freeze the rest.
Recipe Ingredients:
- 5 over-ripe bananas (mashed)
- 300g plain flour
- 120g butter
- 200g caster sugar
- 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 2 eggs
- 30g cocoa powder
- 100g white chocolate chips (or a bar of white chocolate broken up small)
- 125g butter (melted)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- a little milk (to bind)
- optional: 50g toasted and chopped hazelnuts
Recipe Method:
Peel the bananas, remove any obvious blackened areas (but don’t be too fussy) and mash them in a large mixing bowl with a fork. Add the eggs, mixing them in. And then add the melted butter and vanilla extract. Mix this well.
In another mixing bowl sift in the flour, then add and mix in the bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, cocoa powder, caster sugar and sea-salt.
Fold the flour mixture into the bowl with the mashed bananas – don’t over-mix, just until it is combined. Finally mix in the white chocolate chips, and if using add the hazelnuts. If the cake batter is too stiff, add in a little milk to loosen it.
Preheat the oven to 180C
Grease a large (20cm x 12.5cm) loaf tin with butter and line it with baking parchment to stop the cake from burning. Spoon in the cake batter, smoothing it down into the corners and smoothing down the top. Place the Chocolate Banana Cake in the oven and bake for 50 minutes to 60 minutes at 180C – until the cake is well-risen and golden-brown. Check after 50 minutes and reduce the oven temperature slightly if the loaf is browning too quickly on the top, or cover the loaf loosely with aluminium foil. Check it is done by pushing a skewer in to see if it comes out clean and hot.
Remove from the Chocolate Banana Cake from the oven, allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely before serving.