Banana and chocolate cake is something I’ve never warmed to. They evoke memories of urban hippie children’s birthday cakes of the 90s: a little bit organic and a little bit good for you. The name says we can all feel comfortable eating this cake because how could it possibly be bad for you when it’s core ingredient is bananas… and probably honey and organic wholemeal flour too. That’s not a birthday cake!
Then I discovered Kirsty Manning-Wilcox and Peta Heine’s version in their book We Love Food.
And I started reconsidering my initial idea. Birthday cakes don’t have to have luscious icing and happy birthday written across the top. They have to be the cake you love more than any other. It can be a Chocolate Ripple Cheesecake or a Lemon Tart. What it is, doesn’t matter. If it makes you happy and feel special, that’s what counts. So I’ve changed my mind. I love this Banana and Chocolate Cake – but it should never be a birthday cake!
- 250 g unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup soft brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1½ cups self-raising flour
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 3 ripe bananas, mashed
- 150 ml sour cream
- 250 g dark chocolate choc chips
- icing sugar for dusting
- Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Grease a ring tin about 8cm deep and 20cm in diameter. Beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well between each addition. Add the flour and bicarbonate of soda and combine well. Add the bananas, sour cream and choc chips, and gently mix.
- Pour into the prepared cake tin and bake for 40 - 45 minutes, or until the cake is firm to touch and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Allow to cool slightly in the tin before turning onto a rack to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar to serve.
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[…] no stranger to using bananas as a core ingredient in cakes: banana cake, and even better, banana and chocolate cake , are firm favourites that are made again and again and again. Whilst they do a really good job of […]