Same-old, same-old. The family came for the holiday (TG) and I have bananas leftover.
When there’s leftover bananas at my house I usually make banana bread or muffins or a plain banana cake of some sort. But I got some wonderful chocolate as a gift and wanted to use part of it for this cake. It’s rich and festive looking so I’m thinking of making this again for New Year’s weekend.
If you’re having a dairy meal for Hanukkah, this would make a marvelous dessert too!
streusel-topped BANANA-CHOCOLATE CAKE
Streusel:
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup quick oats
3/4 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
Melt the butter and set it aside. In a bowl, combine the oats, coconut, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Mix to distribute the ingredients evenly. Pour in the melted butter, mix to coat all the dry ingredients and set aside.
Cake:
6 ounces semisweet chocolate (1 cup chocolate chips)
1-2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup buttermilk or kefir
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
streusel (above)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9”x13” cake pan or 2-9”round cake pans. Melt the chocolate and set it aside. Mix the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda together in a bowl and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer set at medium speed, beat the brown sugar and butter for 2-3 minutes or until well blended. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat for one minute or until thoroughly blended. Add the bananas and buttermilk and beat for 1-2 minutes. Add the flour mixture and beat until the batter is well blended. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Pour the melted chocolate on top and use a knife to swirl it evenly into the batter. Scatter the crust mixture evenly over the top. Bake for about 45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove to a cake rack to cool completely.
Makes one cake, serving 12-16