Chocolate Chip Banana Cake
Whatever you think, this is not banana bread with frosting. It is in fact a true moist banana cake that has a more aerated crumb and is less dense than the banana bread cousin.
Chocolate Chip Banana Cake
Last week we celebrated my mother-in-law’s 70th birthday and we had a huge celebration in honor of her. This cake was one of four that I made for her.
Caking is not something I excel at. Lucky for me she is one of the nicest people I’ve come across, so even if my cakes had ended up looking like a fifth grade science project gone bad, she would have still genuinely loved them.
Genuinely.
She’s awesome like that, and in so many other ways, so much so that in our home we have adopted the saying, “What would Gramz do?” As you can tell I love this women. Most amazing, yes, amazing women I’ve met. With that I pushed myself to make her four cakes. I’m sharing this one first because it was the biggest hit by just a few votes. (I personally like the next one I’ll be sharing the best).
A few notes:
- For the best flavor, use very ripe bananas.
- The recipe I used is from All Recipe with very minimal changes. The adaptations: I lowered the baking soda from 1 tablespoon to 1 teaspoon. I also skipped the nuts for mini chocolate chips.
- If your wondering how the recipe is, as is, it works fine with the 1 tablespoon of baking soda, but just as well with 1 teaspoon. I changed it the second time around because 1 tablespoon seems like a high leavening amount to the flour amount, so I reduced to see if there would be any noticeable change and it was minimal.
Chocolate Chip Banana Cake
Preparation: Grease and lightly flour two 8 inch round pans. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
Ingredients:
Cake (adapted from All Recipe)
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 pinch salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup white sugar
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 cup ripe bananas, mashed (about 3 large bananas)
- 2/3 cup buttermilk
- 1 1/2 cup mini chocolate cups
Cream Cheese Frosting
- 11/2 cups unsalted butter ( 21/2 sticks)
- 1 8oz. cream cheese
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 cups of confectioner sugar
Instructions:
To make cake:
- Add flour, baking soda and salt into a bowl and whisk to combine; set aside.
- Add butter, white sugar and brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add egg in one at time and beat untilcombined. Add bananas mix to combine. Add flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk to the mixture. Stir in mini chocolate chips. Pour batter evenly between the two prepared pans.
- Bake inoven for about 40 minutes or until cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven, cool cakes on wire.
To make frosting:
- Add butter and cream cheese in a bowl and mix until light and fluffy. Add in vanilla extract and mix to combine. Add confectioner sugar 1 cup at a time and mix until combined.
- Use an incing spatuala or the back of a spoon to frost cake.
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Naomi, this is gorgeous…. I wouldn’t mind a bite.. or two
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That looks delish and I like how you distinguished it from banana bread in the description; that it’s not just glorified banana bread. Bread or cake, I love banana desserts & this would be perfect. GORGEOUS pics!
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This looks SO good :)
Can i share my fav banana cake add?
something i picked up from Mr P (deliciousdeliciousdelicious): mix white chocolate and cream cheese together (you can play around with proportions). Rose Levy-Berenbaum (?) has a more complicated recipe, but the two ingredients work fine (sometimes I add some extra vanilla, brown sugar and/or some creme fraiche).
oh my goodness. it is AMAZING :D best cream cheese icing ever :D and i reckon it would taste sublime on your banana cake :D
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Naomi replied: — June 5th, 2012 @ 4:49 am
Laurie-THANKS for sharing. Love the idea of adding white chocolate to cream cheese frosting. I have to admit I’m not crazy for cream cheese frosting, so your idea may just change that. Thanks again for letting the rest of us know.
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This cake blows me away! Love it!
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It’s such a relief to learn that even an amazing baker like you doesn’t do well with cakes. I struggle… big time. But I won’t let that stop me from making this decadent cake! Banana? I love it! Chocolate chips? I love it even more! Together? Magic!
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This is something I’d definitely love to try. Hmmm
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Love bananas and love cake. This is one a definite must-make!
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Where are the pther three cakes??? If they all look as good as this one I am making all of them just for me!!
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Happy birthday to your mother-in-law. I know this cake was loved. How could it not be with the combination of bananas and chocolate! YUM!
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FOUR cakes?! Now that’s a celebration.
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I want a fat slice of this cake!
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That cake looks delicious. My own grandpa, last of my grandparents left, is a man just like your grandma. To him, who cares what a cake looks like as long as it tastes amazing. He grew up in the Depression so having cakes now is a blessing.
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Stunning photos !!
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i love bananas :D this cake looks so moist & moreish !
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“1 of 4 I made for her” For real? You win DIL of the year!
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Wow, gorgeous photos, delicious looking cake… win-win!! I think I have two brown bananas in my kitchen now… hmm, guess I need to go find a third!
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What are you talking about? Your cake in no way, shape, or form looks like a fifth grade science project! It’s beautiful, Naomi!
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This looks so delicious! It’s so hard to find banana cake recipes that aren’t banana bread like in texture.
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You made her 4 cakes?! Wowzers, that’s awesome!! Happy Birthday to your MIL – what a lovely cake to celebrate with. I seriously believe I could eat banana cake, muffins, or bread every single day. Love.
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Wow! I want a slice of that cake right now. Looks so good especially with the cream cheese frosting.
Is 2-1/2 cups butter means 5 sticks of butter for the frosting? Thanks!
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Naomi replied: — June 5th, 2012 @ 4:47 am
Hi Ela- thanks for letting me know. I’ve corrected the recipe that’s 2 1/2 sticks, 1 1/2 cups of butter.
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This is so, so beautiful. Now can it please find it’s way to my kitchen?
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This looks amazing! I love all you do!
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This is incredible…You take such beautiful photos!
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This looks delicious! Don’t worry, I thought cake right when I saw it. And what a cake! I don’t know if I could stop at one piece!
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I scrolled back to make sure I read that correctly – 4 cakes? Holy awesome!
And I love that this post started with a warning. Banana cake is the best :D
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Oh I am sure your mother in law would love this, big time! It looks moist and delicious, perfect for a birthday celebration. And you say you are not skilled with cakes, you are definitely a genius for whipping up something as delicious as this. The combination is perfect!
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omgoodness this looks freakin’ amazing. i’ve made hummingbird cake and banana cake often times, the chocolate chip is really the cherry on top. :-)
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is the house next to you for sale :) I’d like to move in if it is….I do dishes!
LOVE this it’s so pretty and yummy looking!
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Looks absolutely delicious! I would so love to try some. I can almost taste the frosting.
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Wow that looks fabulous and a similar moist texture to carrot cake, one of my favs! Love how many layers its got. Happy birthday to your mum
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I’ve made something like this before that has Nutella between the layers. I love the chocolate/banana/cream cheese combo!
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This sounds incredible. I can’t think of a combination I love more than bananas and chocolate chips. Your mother-in-law sounds like a very lucky lady to be getting so many tasty cakes!
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I haven’t had a banana cake in years. That chocolate/banana/cream cheese combo is deadly. I might add some peanut butter to the frosting.
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Wow! This looks awesome!! I can’t wait to try it!
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this is similar to our favorite chocolate chip banana bread – try it with cinnamon in it! it gives it that over the edge unique flavor!!
I need to try this cake!
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That first photo is amazing. I always love your food styling! And this recipe has just been added to my “must try” list.
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Hi Naomi, What a delicious looking cake, your photographs are awesome ! I found you through my new Twitter account and so glad I did. I’m just starting out with my blog, and am in awe of the dedication and talent there is in the blogging community! I’ll be returning to your blog frequently for inspiration and ideas….I have so much to learn !
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Naomi replied: — June 15th, 2012 @ 11:22 pm
Mary- Welcome to the wonderful world of food blogging! Thank you for the kind compliment and thank you for stopping by!
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Yum!
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Are you sure about the amount of butter in the cream cheese frosting? It sure seems like way too much compared to the cream cheese.
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Naomi replied: — June 18th, 2012 @ 6:11 am
Frank-Yes, that’s the right measurement. I slanted the ratio towards the butter since I’m not a huge cream cheese fan. If you are, play with the ratio a little–if I were to change it, I would start by switching out the 1/2 cup of butter for 1/2 a block (4oz.) of cream cheese.
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Yes! Naomi is the best DIL a MIL could EVER have! Each cake was exquisite, and each a big hit with the crowd! This was my favorite! Soooo moist and just sweet enough..just like Naomi!
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Hey Naomi! I was just doing a search for a banana cake recipe to use up some bananas who have seen better days. I can’t wait to make this! Your cake is gorgeous and I enjoyed reading about your Gramz! And the baking soda adaption you made too.
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I adore bananas but banana bread is always far too heavy so i’ll definitely be trying this! Thank you xx
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I tried out this recipe after wondering what to do with a minor glut of ripe bananas, it was lovely, thanks for sharing the recipe!
Liz
http://thesugarlump.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/chocolate-chip-banana-cake.html
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