Banana Chocolate Cake

It’s been a while since I posted a recipe, or anything baking related for that matter. That’s because it’s actually been a while since I did some actual baking. There’s a logical explanation for that, though. It’s summer. Now, for most people that wouldn’t be a reason to stop baking — in fact, many people would find it a reason to bake more. However, we’ve had an unusually warm couple of weeks here in the Netherlands and I live on the top floor of a house with a flat roof. Quite frankly, it’s been way too hot to even consider turning my oven on. But these last couple of days have been much less warm, and ever since getting back from Barcelona (which I’ll post more on later) I have had te urge to bake again.

So, here I am with these delicious banana chocolate cakes! When my parents got back from France a few weeks ago, they brought a really cute silicone baking form with them for me as a gift. It’s one form for six little cakes, and I thought I’d try and bake something with it today. I immediately thought of the banana-chocolate combination, for some reason. That combination just never seems to fail, and maaan, are these mini-cakes good! Also, why is it that smaller things are always cute? These cakes are adorable!

You’ll need…

– 200 g caster sugar

– 125 ml sunflower oil

– 2 eggs

– 250 g plain flour

– 2 teaspoons baking powder

– ½ teaspoon salt

– 2-3 bananas (about 300-350 g)

– 100 g dark chocolate

– 1 teaspoon vanilla flavouring

– a cake/loaf tin, or a pan for several smaller cakes (see picture)

– and an oven, of course! This cake needs to be baked at 180 °C (don’t forget to preheat your oven!)

So, let’s get baking!

1. Mash bananas and chop chocolate First off, just to get it out of the way, you have to mash the bananas in a (small) bowl until you’ve got a banana mush. It’s entirely up to you how mushy or lumpy you want your bananas to be, though. Also, chop the chocolate into smaller pieces (again, size is up to you) and add it to the banana mixture. Alternatively, you could also use chocolate chips instead of a plain ol’ chocolate bar.

2. Mix oil and sugar In a seperate (larger) bowl, whisk the sunflower oil and the caster sugar together until it’s evenly mixed. You could also just as well use butter instead of sunflower oil, but I prefer oil because it’s a bit healthier and I always have it at home, whereas I never have butter unless I have to bake something with it.

3. Add eggs, banana mixture and vanilla First, add the eggs to your oil and sugar mixture and whisk them through. Now, add the banana mixture and fold it through your batter. Also add the teaspoon of vanilla flavouring at this point.

4. Add flour, baking powder and salt The last thing you need to do before you pour you mixture into your baking pan is adding the flour, the baking powder and the salt. Fold it through your batter until everything is evenly mixed. Don’t overmix it, though, or your cake(s) will have trouble rising in the oven.

5. Pour batter in pan and bake! Now, pour your batter into your pan. If you don’t have the kind of form I used (which I completely understand, it’s an unusual form), you can just use a normal loaf tin, although it’ll take a bit longer to bake. You’ll have to grease a regular (non silicone) loaf tin before pouring in the batter, though. Once you’ve got your batter in some pan or other, put it in the oven and bake it for 30 minutes. A larger cake will probably take up to 40 or even 50 minutes, you’ll just have to pay attention and time that yourself. Another option might be using a muffin tin.

Once your cake is done, take it out of the oven and let it cool for a while before taking it out of the tin. I do recommend tasting it before it gets cold, though, because this cake tastes absolutely delicious while it’s still warm! Enjoy!