Ole! Chocabanana!

I just didn’t feel like working today. I was in one of those lazy, lethargic moods. And so I decided my weekend was going to start on a Thursday afternoon! ; D Hey, this is one of the (very) few privileges of working from home and running my own business... I can choose to have Friday come one day early! LoL.

Had an urge to bake something… anything… Saw the leftover chocolate chips from baking the cookies on Sunday, and thought I should try to use them up. Saw the bananas hanging there, starting to get a little over-ripe. And the proverbial lightbulb went off in my head… Visions of the gorgeous chocolate and banana cake I saw at Secret Recipe on Tuesday came to mind. Of course, theirs was this thoroughly decadent, elegant cake with layers of whipped chocolate fresh cream, slices of bananas, rich chocolate cake, all covered with chocolate ganache. I wasn’t about to attempt anything like that – but, a nice rustic, down-to-earth homemade banana cake with chocolate chips would be perfect for tea. Somehow, the fusion of chocolate and banana is always pure alchemy.

I hunted through some recipes and settled on trying the following:

2 c. plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 c. granulated sugar
2 eggs
¼ c. butter, softened
1 c. mashed bananas (I used 2 big ones)
½ c. lite sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
½ c. chocolate chips

- combine all the dry ingredients, except the sugar. When baking cakes, I like to sieve the flour twice, to give a lighter, fluffier crumb.
- sprinkle some sugar over the bananas before mashing them. This prevents them from oxidizing and turning brown (a tip I learnt from my mother).
- beat the sugar, butter and eggs on medium speed, until smooth.
- add in the bananas, sour cream and vanilla, and beat till smooth (the batter will be fairly liquidy).
- fold in the flour mixture.
- fold in the chocolate chips.
- pour into a greased 9x13” baking pan. I like to put a piece of greaseproof paper at the bottom of the pan to prevent the bottom of the cake from getting too crusty.
- bake about 25 minutes (or until skewer comes clean) at 175C/350F.

I was very surprised by the result. This cake was very good! (If I may say so myself). It didn’t bake into a very “tall” cake, but the crumb was very moist, soft and fluffy. I loved the color too – I like my cakes a beautiful, rich golden brown. Perhaps I could have added more chocolate chips, if I have had more available. But that may have made the cake a tad too sweet. It was very good as it was, and especially good when still warm from the oven.

And the reactions of the family? Two thumbs up!

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