Full view of chocolate chip banana cake

Comforting Chocolate Chip Banana Cake: Super easy, and the bananas DEFINITELY make it healthy.

Yum

Is there a better combination than chocolate and banana? I have vivid memories of buying frozen bananas dipped in chocolate at Cedar Point when I was a kid, and I thought they were SO FANCY. This Chocolate Chip Banana Cake is an homage to that treat. ALSO, there’s fruit in the layers AND in the sponge itself, so this cake is DEFINITELY healthy. ….right?

Frosting the chocolate chip banana cake
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Honestly, someone needs to change the password on my amazon account.

This is some amusing blather about my life, but if you are here from Pinterest looking for the recipe, it won’t hurt my feelings if you skip to the next heading.

I have been fooling myself with the idea that all of this baking and blogging will eventually lead to me making a profit, but to be honest I can’t seem to stop myself from spending all of my profits (and more) on….more baking stuff. Oops.

It’s ok, though. I’ve made a hundred dollars through ads and get fairly steady orders, but the point of all of this isn’t really to make money. I find baking to be almost meditative, and it is important to me. My job can be stressful and all-consuming, and it’s easy to drown in it. Baking requires concentration. You can’t really worry about other things while you’re doing it, you’ll make mistakes and you can taste the negativity in the food.

So, the money doesn’t really matter to me. Although I certainly wouldn’t mind getting some more love from google haha.

My most recent amazon indulgence is some silicon molds, used to make shapes out of chocolate or fondant. I looooove them.

making gold chocolate decorations

(Sorry for that atrocious picture)

This was my first experiment with my new molds, and I thought it was really fun. I just melted down some dark chocolate melting wafers in the microwave, piped it into the molds, let it set, then unmolded them and painted them. Luster dust is very easy to use: you just mix it with a tiiiiny bit of vodka, and paint it on. I was very happy with the finished product.

close up on the gold decorations

Elegant, right?

Unfortunately for me, my very limited storage areas, and my paypal account, it seems that there are an unlimited variety of available silicon molds. Sigh.

top of the chocolate chip banana cake

Chocolate Chip Banana Cake: the right cake for Katie.

Honestly, this cake was simple to put together and did not take much time. It is perfect for anyone looking for an approachable layer cake recipe. If you need other ideas for birthday cakes, I recommend my strawberry lemonade cake and my orange tiramisu cake.

This particular birthday cake was for my bestie Katie’s birthday. When I asked her what kind of cake she wanted, she promptly (and predictably) replied “chocolate.” However, I knew I would need to throw together something a little more special than a plain chocolate cake. Katie is very special to me and lots of other people, and she deserves a special cake.

Katie with her chocolate chip banana birthday cake

Katie’s birthday (July 3rd,) also happens to coincide with an ENORMOUS (seriously) block party that takes place right outside my front door. I find it really difficult to adequately describe this event to people that have not attended it.

My neighbor sets off fireworks, and they are serious business. They are set off in the street right outside my house, and it is kind of…overwhelming. They are enormous, fast-paced, and RIGHT THERE. Right overhead. It sort of makes you terrified and experience devastating sensory overload for thirty minutes.

It’s awesome.

There’s also food trucks, a band, and about a thousand people traipsing through our little cul-de-sac.

In addition to all of these festivities, my buddies and I also played Yard Yahtzee, which is basically just Yahtzee….in the yard. Josh, I am bitter about my loss and am ready for the rematch.

playing yard yahtzee with Ian

I had never played Yahtzee before, and I loved it. I’m sorry to everyone that comes over to my house for the next few months, I am sure I will be bugging everyone to play. Especially since I lost. My competitiveness is pretty toxic, honestly.

Chocolate Chip Banana Cake: the elements.

The sponge element of this layer cake was a little tricky to get right, but I think it is pretty yummy with a few adjustments. It has mashed bananas right in the cake, which makes me feel confident while eating enormous slices without guilt. Fruit is healthy, right? I remember them giving me a banana after running a half marathon, so clearly bananas add instant health to everything. Athletes eat them, it’s fine.

slice of chocolate chip banana cake
Shoutout to my friend Abby for holding up the white tablecloth behind this picture. She is an artiste.

My first attempt at this sponge was a little heavy, so I changed out the regular flour for cake flour, and it lightened up considerably.

chocolate chip banana cake sponge layer

In addition to three layers of chocolate chip banana cake, I knew I wanted some really delicious chocolate frosting. So, I made a traditional American buttercream and added in some high quality cocoa powder. This created a fluffy chocolate buttercream that was hard to resist while I was decorating. Katie, a dedicated chocoholic, reported that this frosting was very good. So, a win.

chocolate chip banana cake being assembled

I put some sliced bananas in the middle of the cake, but that could easily be left out if you aren’t eating the cake on the same day you assemble it. (You don’t want the bananas to brown.)

I’m pretty bad at crumb-coating, but I found this cake to be sturdy and really easy to work with, and the frosting was smooth and malleable. It made crumb-coating and putting on the final layer very easy.

crumb coated chocolate chip banana cake

I did some shmancy decorating with some vanilla buttercream and my little gold chocolate bows and flowers, but it isn’t really necessary. You can just shovel the chocolate buttercream on this bad boy and eat it up.

decorating my chocolate chip banana cake

What’s your favorite birthday cake? Let me know some flavor combos, and I’ll develop some more!

Comforting Chocolate Chip Banana Cake: So easy and the bananas DEFINITELY make it healthy.

Recipe by Kelly Likes to BakeCourse: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: Intermediate
Servings

16

slices
Prep time

30

minutes
Cooking time

30

minutes
Calories

300

kcal

This luscious cake has three tender chocolate chip banana sponges, layered with creamy chocolate buttercream and fresh banana slices.

Ingredients

  • For the chocolate chip banana sponge:
  • 4 bananas (very ripe)

  • 3 cups cake flour

  • 1.5 t baking powder

  • 1.5 t baking soda

  • 1 t salt

  • 1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

  • 1 c sugar

  • 3/4 c packed light or dark brown sugar

  • 4 large eggs, at room temperature

  • 2 t vanilla extract

  • 1 and 1/2 c sour cream or yogurt

  • 1/2 c milk

  • 1 1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

  • For the chocolate buttercream and assembly:
  • 6 sticks (3 cups) unsalted butter, at room temperature.

  • 5 cups powdered sugar

  • 3/4 cups cocoa powder

  • 1 t vanilla

  • pinch of salt

  • 2 T heavy cream

  • 2 sliced bananas

Directions

  • Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prepare three eight- or nine-inch cake pans with cooking spray and parchment paper.
  • Peel your bananas and mash them in a bowl with a fork or potato masher.
  • In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat your butter, sugar, salt, and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Add your bananas and vanilla and continue to beat until combined. It is ok if it is a little lumpy. Everything will come together eventually. Add your eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the baking powder, baking soda, half of the flour, half of the sour cream or yogurt, and half of the milk, beat until just combined. Add the remaining flour, sour cream or yogurt, and milk, mix until just combined. Stir the chocolate chips in by hand, using a rubber spatula, and making sure all of the butter and everything is completely incorporated from the bottom.
  • Pour the batter into your three cake tins, smoothing the tops with an offset spatula or a knife. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely, then turn out of the pans.
  • Make your chocolate buttercream. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat your butter thoroughly until fluffy and pale, about five minutes. Add half of the powdered sugar, beat until well-incorporated, about three minutes. Add the remaining ingredients (except for the bananas), and beat very well, about five minutes. Add additional powdered sugar or cream to adjust the consistency as necessary. (In my picture, I topped this cake with some piped blobs of vanilla buttercream. If you would like to do this, add all of the ingredients except for the cocoa powder, beat for five minutes, and remove a small amount to decorate with. Then, add the cocoa powder and beat it for another few minutes.)
  • Assemble your cake. Level the layers. On the bottom layer of sponge, smooth out an even layer of frosting. Top with a layer of banana slices. Add another layer of sponge and repeat this process. Top with the final layer of cake. Crumb coat the entire cake, and refrigerate for at least thirty minutes. Add your final layer of frosting. Keep the cake in the fridge until thirty minutes before you want to eat it. Enjoy!!

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