Chunky Dark Chocolate Moist Banana Cake

I simply love this kind of banana cake, I really do. Banana brings this wonderful creaminess and natural sweetness that creates a cake that is super fluffy yet wonderfully dense at the same time, which honestly is just the best of both worlds. And adding chocolate…. dark chocolate? Well, that just takes something already great and turns it to 11! hehehe. And well, even if you’re not the biggest banana fan, hear me out, because this cake might still be totally for you! Yes, it has that lovely banana aroma, but the banana flavor isn’t super intense, it’s nothing like eating a straight up banana, and with chocolate in the mix it creates this whole other delicious dimension of flavor. Trust me, it is absolutely worth trying!

And speaking of chocolate, I used chunks of dark cooking chocolate, and I really think that makes all the difference in the world. You know how with chocolate chip cookies you always want them chunky? Same idea here. Instead of using fine chocolate sprinkles where you barely get a real taste of chocolate in each bite, using big rough chunks means you hit those pockets of melted, gooey, slightly intense chocolate all throughout the cake. And as we all know, chocolate and bananas are a classic, almost legendary pairing that works beautifully together, especially with dark chocolate. So no wonder this recipe comes out absolutely wonder-ful ;D every single time!

On top of all that, this is a delicious and simple recipe, nothing fancy, no complicated techniques, just solid straightforward baking that delivers every single time. You will have this batter put together in just a few minutes, the oven does all the hard work, and what comes out is a dense, soft, chocolatey banana cake that honestly disappears pretty fast once anyone get their hands on it. Give it a go, you won’t regret it! So let’s check the recipe!

Chunky Dark Chocolate Moist Banana Cake

Servings: 16
Time: 1hr 30mins
Difficulty: Normal
Rating: ★★★★★
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Gotta love this classic combination, this kind of banana cake has a super soft and moist crumb, almost feels like its half baked, with those nice pockets of semi-melted dark chocolate throughout, it's an amazing recipe you should try at home, absolutely worth making!

Ingredients

Sugar – 180g
AP Flour – 260g
Butter – 120g
Eggs – 2L
Bananas – 4 (Medium Ripe or 3 Large Ripe)
Dark Chocolate – 150g
Milk – 1 Tablespoon
Cinnamon – 1 Teaspoon
Baking Powder – 1 Teaspoon
Baking Soda – 1 Teaspoon
Salt – A Pinch

Directions

Preheat the oven to 160ºC (325ºF). Prepare a round, removable-bottom cake tin. Line the bottom with parchment paper and grease and flour the tin.

In a bowl, combine the sugar and butter and whisk well until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking until a homogeneous batter forms.

Peel the bananas and slice them. Mash them until they form a paste (it doesn’t need to be super smooth). Add the milk to the bananas and mash them a little more. Then add this to the sugar and butter mixture and stir everything together.
Finally, in another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix well and add this to the final mixture using a wooden spoon. Chop into big chunks the dark cooking chocolate and mix it into the batter.
Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake for approximately 1 hour, or until cooked through.

Prick the cake with a toothpick, if it comes out dry, the cake is ready. Remove it from the oven and let it cool for about 15 minutes before unmolding. And that’s it, enjoy! 😀

Notes & Tips: Use very ripe bananas, the ones that are nearly fully brown or black on the outside are the sweetest, creamiest, and give the most flavor to the batter. The riper, the better, seriously, even if over ripe, that only affects the color of the final cake.

For the chocolate, chop it into rough, uneven chunks rather than fine pieces. Those big irregular pockets of melted chocolate throughout the cake are what make every single bite feel special, don’t skip this step, i would say 2/3 are really chunky and 1/3 is finer chunks that fall off ;D

Dark cooking chocolate at around 70% cocoa or higher works best here and creates that beautiful, slightly intense contrast with the sweet banana. Milk chocolate will make the whole thing a bit too sweet for me, so if you go that route you might want to reduce the sugar just a touch.

Don’t overmix the batter once you add the flour. Stir just until everything is combined, overmixing develops the gluten and can make the cake come out tough and heavy instead of that lovely soft and dense texture you’re going for.

A springform pan makes unmolding much cleaner and easier, but a regular round cake pan lined well with parchment paper works perfectly fine too, just make sure to grease and flour the sides generously.

If you want a little extra visual flair, press a handful of chocolate chunks on top of the batter right before it goes into the oven. They melt slightly on top and look fantastic once the cake is out. Or just make a chocolate ganache and spread it on top after the cake has cooled down for extra chocolateness (is that a word? hehehe).

Do make a note that like all fruit or vegetable cakes, the batter will tend to be extra moist, so unlike a standard cake it will take a bit more time to cook through, so if the top starts to get too brown, put some aluminium foil on top to prevent too much browning before the cake if fully cooked through.

This recipe for Chunky Dark Chocolate Moist Banana Cake was originally created on BakeAfter.com. Esta receita de Bolo de Banana e Chocolate foi publicada em português no Iguaria.com.