Friday 12 September 2014

Chocolate Banana Cake


After baking Chocolate Orange Ring Cake, I decided to try another recipe from the book Easy Chocolate. The Chocolate Banana Cake looked very pretty with streaks of melted white chocolate on top and a sprinkling of whole pecans. As they say, don't judge a book by its cover. Or in this case, don't judge a cake by its photo.

Fortunately, the two cakes from this book taste as good as they look. After all, chocolate and bananas can't go wrong. Speaking of chocolate and bananas, there is something wicked that I love.



A while back, I had some leftover ganache in the fridge and some bananas in the pantry. I warmed up the ganache and dipped the bananas into the warm chocolate. God! I swore I was sent straight up to heaven! I tell you, I could have eaten the whole bunch of bananas. But of course I didn't. So, if you are feeling blue, eat some bananas dipped in melted chocolate. It beats Prozac anytime. But there are side effects. You become fat like me muahahaha....sobs......

Back to the cake. It was the long Merdeka (Independence Day) weekend and I was in the mood to bake. I had a small comb of bananas, about 8 medium sized ones. Enough for two banana cakes. One cake was a plain but awesome banana cake (coming up in next post) and the other, this chocolaty one.



The plain banana cake calls for 170g butter (and some sour cream) while this one 175g butter (no sour cream). One block of butter is 250g and I needed in total 345g. So instead of taking out 95g from another block, I decided to sub the remaining butter with sour cream.

Another thing I did was to cream the butter and sugar by hand. Why? I was not in the mood to wash the electric beater. I want to bake but I don't want to wash hah..hah... Besides, I have seen Rachel Allen cream her butter and sugar just by using a wooden spoon and I reckon I could do the same.



It is tiring though but on the bright side, I did burn some calories to allow for tasting the cake. But seriously, I won't do that again because I find that the mixer obviously does I better job than I did.

Although I have white chocolate on hand, I decided not to use it. I am not very fond of white chocolate as I find it much too sweet. After all, this cake by itself is already awesome and it did not need anything else. 



As the cake was baking, the aroma of bananas and chocolate coming from my kitchen was so soothing hah..hah.. Needless to say, I was in a very good mood the whole day. If my partner had asked me to wash his car, I would have done so with a smile on my face. I was that happy. But that ended the next day. Back to work. Arrrrgghhh!!!! But hey, today is Friday. Yipeeee!!!!











Chocolate Banana Cake 
Recipe source : Adapted from Easy Chocolate (page 24)

Ingredients :
- 4 ripe bananas (peeled weight about 220g), mashed
- 80g butter (original recipe 175g)
- 125g sour cream (original recipe none)
- 120g muscavado sugar (original recipe 175g)
- 2 eggs, beaten
-225g self-raising flour, sifted
- 55g plain chocolate, grated

Method :
1. Cream butter and sugar until light and creamy.
2. Gradually add beaten eggs.
3. Stir in the mashed bananas.
4. Fold in flour alternately with sour cream in three additions, until just combined (do not overmix)
5. Lastly fold in grated chocolate.
6. Pour batter into a lined loaf pan and bake at 160C for 45-55 minutes or until skewer inserted into centre of the cake comes out clean.



This post is linked to Cook-Your-Books #16 hosted by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours.

54 comments:

  1. Good morning Phong Hong, when I see chocolate banana cake, I immediately think of a round cake, with chocolate ganache, just like SR cakes.. But when I see your cake, wah, I suddenly feel very homely.. Coz I grow up with these cakes.. Mum would go to the market every morning, and buys these banana cakes, sponge cakes and some "kai tan gou" home, and I think I ate almost every week for 18 years, yes 18 years! Haha.. Of coz they don't have chocolate banana cake la, it's either chocolate cake or banana cake, cut into slices like yours, and sold for RM0.80 per piece (not cheap too)..I have everything except sour cream and muscavado sugar, but I think I can try baking this cake, looks simple to bake :)

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    1. Hi Louiz! Sorry late reply you. So busy :( I see that you grew up eating lots of cakes and that's nice lah. No need to use sour cream and muscavado sugar. Just substitute with yogurt and either brown or ordinary white sugar. Kautim!

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  2. Best served warm with ice cream by the side, vanilla or chocolate. Slurpsssss....

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    1. Ohh....yes, I must make sure I get ready ice cream!

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  3. Your banana cake looks so soft and moist. I can see the specks of white choc peeking out from the slice. Yum!

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  4. Any fruits will taste awesome when dipped with chocolate sauceee :D

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  5. My favourite cake! Banana cake! Goes well with almost anything.

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  6. Hi Phong Hong, I can smell this cake from here. I know it's soft, moist and fragrant. The sweetness is n't easily described. I will bake this one day. What banana did you use? The color looks dark.

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    1. Hi Kimmy! This is a good cake. I used pisang berangan. I think it is the best banana to use.

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  7. awwww, banana cake, and somemore it's chocolate banana cake!! looks so delicious and yummy.. i remember the basic banana cake i used to have when i was still a kid, actually didn't know those are banana cakes also until very very years later.. now this chocolate banana cake, what a great combination of chocolate and banana, looks so moist and fluffy and i can also see chocolate and banana pieces in the cake.. i like this kind of texture, not everything blended finely and smoothly, but rather some chunks to enhance the overall texture.. that explains i prefer chunky peanut butter than smooth ones.. :p

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    1. Hi SK! Homemade banana cake is best! The ones sold at some places use banana essence. Me too prefer some banana chunks in the cake. That's why I don't mash it until too fine.

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  8. Oh I just bake a banana cake yesterday too....still have some left in the container! But with no chocolate. I love to give it a try as I never had chocolate banana combo together! Ha...maybe right now I took out my own slice banana cake and some chocolate bits and bite it all together and become chocolate banana cake lor.....was it a good idea?

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    1. Hi Mel! hahaha...ya you can try eat your banana cake with chocolate. Next time try this cake. I love it!

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  9. hahaha.. the wanna bake, don't wanna wash sounds awfully familiar.... today i'm in the mood to "wanna eat, don't wanna bake, don't wanna wash".. so here i m for a slice of this

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    1. Hi Victoria! I wish that the mixer can wash itself haha...

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  10. Chocolate + banana cake yummy! Yeah TGIF ! I was unwell yesterday ... better today and hopefully I'll get much better tomorrow and be "in the mood to bake" over the weekends. But now, just wanna take a slice of your yummy cake for my tea break ^-^!

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    1. Hi Karen! Hope that you are fully recovered by now. I am in a good mood today!

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  11. Hi Phong Hong, baking mode? :)) Nice combination, I always love banana with chocolate. Your this cake look so fluffy and moist. I go make coffee.... LOL

    Have a nice day. regards
    Amelia

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    1. Hi Amelia! Sometimes when the mood comes, I feel like baking the whole day LOL!

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  12. Wow, very "semangat" to beat butter by hands, I don't think I want to try that lol! Love the end results, and less butter is good huh! Got to try this when I have bananas....hmmm, I do have bananas sitting on the floor after the mooncake festival prayers:D Ok, this will be my weekend bake!

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    1. Hi Jeannie! No more lah, very tiring to beat by hand :D Yah, go bake chocolate banana cake. Very nice lor!

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  13. My Dear, I can only say it must have smelled heavenly!

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  14. Have you tried sprinkling some sea salt into chocolate then dipping your banana it? I promise you, the salt really enhances the experience :P

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    1. Yen, I'll be sure to do that next time because I love those chocolate bars with sea salt. Yum!

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  15. oh my... i love banana cake and now you add chocolates some more!!

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  16. Hi Phong Hong,
    I smiled when you mentioned that you have watched Rachel Allen creaming the butter and sugar by hand. I've seen her shows too and did just as you did! Boy, it was really tiring, and back to the mixer for me! Hahaha! She makes it look so easy! My arm was aching the next day, really!
    Your cake looks really moist and delicious! I like simple cakes like this. And kudos to you for replacing the butter with sour cream. I prefer bananas in bakes rather than eating them as a fruit!
    Thanks for sharing with CYB!

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    1. Hi Joyce! hahaha...no more hand mixing for me too! For me, I love bananas in cakes, smoothies and just eating it like that. It's time to but another bunch!

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  17. eh your instructions didn't say where you add the sour cream..

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  18. Hi Phong Hong,
    Love-love your chocolatey banana cake ! And WOW! you've even creamed the butter & sugar by hand ! Well , I guess I have to do the same too . Wth my apple event , I'm putting on weight for sure ! LOL

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    1. Hi Kit! I think your apple event is making me fat too hah..hah... Will post soon :)

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  19. Looks good, I think I haven't really bake a banana cake before, must give it a try some day~

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    1. Hi Hayley! Try lah when you have over ripe bananas :)

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  20. looks good! and I am the same, getting fatter and fatter ever since start baking :P

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    1. Hi Jess! Yeah lah, same here. Bake-eat-bake-eat LOL!

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  21. Hi PH, who doesn't love a good banana chocolate bread eh! It's always a favourite at my house, but sadly I don't have time to do any baking these days, just doing the essential cooking is time comsuming enough haha. I see you are living up to your blog name now, baking up a storm :)

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    1. Hi Esther! hah..hah... Sometimes when the mood comes, I go into a baking frenzy!

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  22. hi phong hong, your photo looks great, it justifies the deliciousness of this cake la! hmm..sounds like not a bad idea to use some sour cream in place of butter..i'm learning something new here! thank you!

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    1. Thanks, Lena! Sour cream makes the cake moist. At first I was quite scared of using sour cream in case the cake came out tasting like sour cream ha..ha...

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  23. My mum always baked me banana cakes when I was a student and I could whallop the whole tin while it was still warm. I have never tried chocolate ones. Must be good too but at my old age now, I could only eat maximum 2 pieces.

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    1. Hi TM! Banana cake is actually best taken when it is still slightly warm. Oh...I shall do that when I bake it next!

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  24. I must make a different banana cake...other than the recipe I usually use. Phong Hong, your chocolate-banana cake is super moist and droolworthy delicious!

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    1. Do try this one, Elisabeth. I love the chocolaty bits in the cake. Yums!

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  25. Phong Hong, just wanted to let you know that I left a comment to the missed posts...haven't been home in a week now (staying at daughter's)...my kitchen sink faucet broke down...they had to order a special Kohler brand (which was out of stock)...also, at the same time my A.C. broke down...fun, fun, he, he...but at least I didn't have to cook, my daughter did all the cooking, and I feel so 'spoiled'...but loving it! She also has a food blog!

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    1. Hi Elisabeth! When bad things happen, they come in a bunch huh? I'm sure everything is all good now. Oh yes, I do know of your daughter's blog. She's Lora of The Cake Duchess and she is just as awesome as her mum!

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