Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting

Whenever there are ripe bananas at home, I use them to bake delicious muffins. When I was younger and still living at my parents’, I used to bake them so often that my sister soon got fed up and couldn’t even stand the sight of them anymore! Too bad for her, I continued to make them, using various recipes, this way they’re always somewhat different. To this day, I never grew tired of them (okay, I don’t always bake banana muffins, I also alternate with other flavours!) and you can always find some hidden somewhere in my freezer, this way they’re handy to grab and have them as a snack at the office.

This time, instead of the usual muffins, I decided to go for a banana and nuts cake for a change and, oh heaven, top it with a chocolate frosting. It was decadent! I even had it for breakfast… I got this recipe from my uncle years ago and it had been a very long time since I last used it. It was as good as I recalled! However, I switched his chocolate frosting recipe for a less sweet recipe since the cake already calls for a lot of sugar.

Ingredients for the cake:

2 cups of flour

1¼ teaspoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 teaspoon of salt

⅔ cup of chopped walnuts

1⅔ cups of sugar

⅔ cup of butter

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1¼ cup of mashed ripe bananas (about 2-3 medium sized bananas)

⅔ cup of milk

Preheat oven at 350^o. Butter and flour a bundt pan or 2 x 8’’ cake tins.

In a bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and walnuts.

In a second bowl, cream butter and sugar using a hand mixer (or a stand mixer if you have one). Add the eggs and vanilla. Mix thoroughly then add the ripe bananas. Slowly add the dry ingredients, alternating with the milk. Mix until combined.

Pour the batter in the tin and bake for about 30 minute on the middle rack, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Ingredients for the frosting:

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate (chocolate chips would do)

1½ cup of light sour cream (you could also opt for full fat!)

1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract

Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. When melted, transfer the chocolate in a bowl. Add sour cream and mix using a hand mixer. Add the vanilla, then continue mixing until light and fluffly, about 2 minutes.

I suggest you make the frosting only once the cake has cooled down because you need to use it right away before it gets too stiff. (You can wait, but it just won’t do a neat job afterwards). Then, just spread the love and enjoy!