Apr 9, 2014
Banana and chocolate chip cake
“Right, if you want to eat these bananas, you can. However, if they are left alone for a few days, I’ll whip up some banana cake for you.”
Bananas don’t last long in our apartment. The few times I half-heartedly trying to get some ripen, they inevitably got gobbled up quickly. This time though, a simple request with an offer of a reward does the trick. The initial intention was to make a simple banana cake but since F asked so nicely to incorporate chocolate chips in it, he got it!
This good size loaf didn’t last very long either. I baked it late in the morning, so clearly we must have some as dessert during lunch. Two hours or so later, oh look – it’s tea time! With cake, of course. Always with cake. When dinner came round, there was just enough for another round of dessert. F also quipped that it would be unfair to the cake if some were kept overnight since it was best when truly fresh, therefore same day consumption made the most sense. What a logic ;)
This is an old recipe from my tattered notebook, so I can’t even remember where I may have got this in the first place. I was drawn to it for its simplicity (that seems to be how I like all recipes to be!) and that I usually have all the ingredients in the pantry, except the ripe bananas.
I prefer using demerara sugar in this cake for its rich caramel note, but if you don’t have it on hand, brown or white sugar would do as substitutes. Maybe reduce the quantity a little, so the cake doesn’t end up too sweet, especially if the bananas are already of sweeter variety! You can also jazz it up with chocolate chips or chopped nuts.
Banana (and chocolate chip) cake
Dry ingredients: 1¾ cups self-raising flour, ¾ cup demerara sugar
Wet ingredients: 125g butter (melted and cooled), 2 eggs (lightly beaten), 1 tsp vanilla essence, 3 large bananas (smushed)
Optional extras: 1 banana (sliced, for decoration), 1 cup chocolate chips (or chopped nuts)
1. Preheat the oven to 170°C, and line a loaf pan.
2. Combine the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
3. Combine the wet ingredients in another mixing bowl.
4. Fold the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and mix till just combined.
5. Add in the chocolate chips or chopped nuts, if used.
6. Pour into the loaf pan and place thin slices of bananas over the top.
7. Bake for 50-60 minutes, till golden and skewer is clean.
8. Leave to cool a little before removing from the loaf pan.
9. Slice the cake and enjoy the treat!
To be honest, I’m not a very precise baker. This is why I usually work with cups and spoons instead of precise grams and millilitres. I also improvise with the optional extras. When I don’t have chocolate chips, I just chop cooking chocolate bars and make my own version of variable-sized chocolate chips. I also estimate the amount of chips or nuts, depending on the texture of the batter, which in turn may vary given the amount of smushed bananas used. Those sliced bananas on top is not necessary at all, but they do pretty up the cake a good bit!
This cake is best when it is still slightly warm. F swears by it :)
yummyyy :) lucky f :)
thanks sila ;)
Thanks for typing up the recipe, Lil! I’ve procured some chocolate chips and have set aside some bananas (they disappear in our house too), and now I’m waiting for them to be perfectly ripe.
I’m trying to get some ripen at the moment too, so I can rebake for friends arriving tomorrow! Still no chocolate chips so I ought to get some later today. Happy baking!
I made the banana chocolate chip cake today. It’s lovely! Luckily for me, my loaf tin was a little too small so I put the extra batter into a couple of muffin cases. I didn’t have to wait until Rich gets home to have a taste :)
Awesome possum!
Lil! One of your blog posts appeared in my reader, I don’t think that has happened in about a year, HURRAH! (WordPress is a bit finicky for that!)
I love banana cake. If you have ripe bananas but you want to keep them for when you have time to make the cake, freeze them!
Most odd indeed! And yes, I do freeze the bananas, because then, I make one-ingredient banana sorbet! Do you know that one? Just put the banana into a blender, whizz it up, then eat :D
ooooooo yummy…not a big fan of banana but definitely for chocolate chips hehehe…lucky F indeed and good baking lil ;)
oh no – how could you not know the joy of bananas? ;)
I don’t think this pretty cake would last long in my house too. Looks pretty amazing!
Thanks Camila :)