Crispy Chocolate Banana Cake
One of my favourite kind of desserts is banana cake. I love that the cake is moist and naturally sweet because of the banana. Another great combination with banana is chocolate. But what makes this recipe even better is that it got texture and crunch. The filling does not only contains cacao powder, but extra dark chocolate chips. It also had a salty & crunchy pumpkin seed topping to maximise flavour.
This is also a great way to get rid of overripe bananas because the darker the better the end result!
Ingredients (1 loaf of -/+12 slices):
3 very ripe bananas
180 g self-raising flour
130 g unsalted butter (melted)
160 g light brown sugar*
2 eggs (room temperature)
1 teaspoon of vanilla-extract
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
20 g cacao powder (unprocessed)
130 g dark chocolate chips
60 g roasted pumpkin seeds (or hazelnuts, walnuts, pecan’s)
*In Belgium you will know this as ‘kinnekessuiker’
Directions:
Grease and line a loaf tin with baking parchment (2 cm above top of tin to get it easily out after baking).
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, and sea salt. Set aside.
Mash the bananas in a bowl until they are soft & soggy. Add in the sugar, melted butter & vanilla-extract. Whisk in the eggs 1 by 1 and stir until smooth.
Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, but don’t overmix. Stir in the 3/4 of the chocolate chips.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle over the remaining 1/3 of the chocolate chips followed with the roasted pumpkin seeds. Finish with a good sprinkle of sea salt.
Place the tin in a pre heated oven of 170°C for about 50-60 minutes.
Let the cake cool in the tin for 10 minutes (easier to remove).
Take the cake out of the tin and let it cool down on a cooling rack.
Note: This cake will stay good for about -/+ 4 days if you wrap this in plastic and store in a air-free box.
Nina Beckers
