Chocolate Banana Cake

What's better use of over-ripe bananas than in baking? Though I'm not quite a "banana" person, I do like the combination of banana and chocolate, especially in cakes. So rather than wasting those over-ripe bananas that were sitting in the kitchen, I decided to look up new recipes on bananas and chocolates. I wanted to try something different though I have my heavenly Awfully Dark Chocolate Banana Cake and delicious Banana Chocolate Chips Muffins recipes ready on hand. And I came across this recipe for a chocolate banana bread. But a look at the ingredients and instructions suggest that it's more like a cake than a bread. And I wonder if it's called a bread because it's baked in a loaf pan? Anyway, I was curious how the recipe would turn out and decided to give it a shot.

Chocolate Banana Cake

I tried out in a square pan instead. And the verdict... it turned out to be everything in-between! The crust is somewhat similar to a soft french bread, and the bite and texture is somewhat similar to a brownie, yet it's not dense and gives a soft "cakey" chewy bite. I know this may sound confusing, but I really like this cake I'd call it, though I must admit I wasn't impressed (by the colour and appearance) when I un-moulded it from the cake pan. And the English idiom that goes, "Don't judge a book by its cover" definitely hit me hard here. After all, how wrong can banana and chocolate pair go, right? ^_^

I am sharing this Chocolate Banana Cake with blog event, We Should Cocoa (May 2015: Vanilla) organised by Choclette of Tin and Thyme and Chele of Chocolate Teapot and guest hosted by Karen of Lavender and Lovage for the month of May 2015;

I am also sharing this recipe with Best Recipes for Everyone (May 2015 Event: My Favourite Desserts) organized by Fion of XuanHom's Mom and co-hosted by Aunty Young. 

And last but not least, I'm sharing this new exploration from a bread-turned-cake recipe with monthly link up party, Our Growing Edge (May 2015) hosted by Jordan and Cindy from My Daughter and I, an event that aims to connect food bloggers and inspire us to try new things.

Chocolate Banana Cake

Recipe referenced and modified from: Six Sisters' Stuff

Ingredients Required

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened at room temperature
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 - 3 medium bananas, mashed (just a little over 1 cup)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Bakeware Used

Square non-stick pan 8" x 8" x 2"

Preparation Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease baking pan and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set dry ingredients aside
4. In a separate bowl, beat sugar and butter together using an electric mixer until creamy. 
5. Add eggs, one at a time and mix well. 
6. Add bananas, vanilla extract, and milk and stir until completely incorporated.
7. Add the wet banana mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. 
8. Fold in chocolate chips and pour batter into the prepared baking pan.
9. Bake in the preheated oven for about 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
10. Remove from oven and let cool (in the pan) on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes. 
11. Once cooled, un-mould from pan, cut as desired and serve.

The Dream Baker's Experiment

1. The original source recipe calls for unsweetened cocoa powder and milk chocolate chips which I have replaced with special dark cocoa powder and dark chocolate chips in my recipe to make a dark chocolate version.
2. I used margarine (with 80% fat) in substitution for butter, large eggs weighing approximately 60 grams each (with shell on) and 2% reduced fat milk in my above recipe.
3. I greased the baking pan with extra margarine. You can also use non-stick cooking spray.
4. I baked my cake in the lower rack of the oven for exactly 45 minutes.

The batter for this recipe is pretty thick and gluey. I used an offset spatula to smooth out the surface before sending it into the oven.

The cake is left to cool in the pan over a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before it is un-mould from the cake pan. If the pan is well-greased, the cake will release easily when the pan is overturned.

The sides of the cake are really crusty. If you don't prefer, you can simply trim off the sides with a serrated knife before serving. I did so. ^_^

This is definitely a very chocolatey cake. The cake texture is dense yet moist. And if you look (really) closely, you can see bits of the mashed bananas. ^_^

And to add an awesome goodness to this seemingly plain looking cake, I have mine microwaved for a good 10 seconds and served with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream... 

Voila~~

It's desserts time!

Dare to dream.

The Dream Baker