Wholesome Banana Chocolate Chip Cake with Banana icing

This Wholesome Banana Chocolate Chip Cake is for the banana lovers! With bananas in the cake and the icing, the cake is so rich and moist! The mini chocolate chips, dotted throughout, make this a really decadent dessert. Or make it into cupcakes! Kids, and adults alike, will be coming back for more of this sweet treat! Better yet, you can feel good knowing you are serving something delicious and nutritious!

I think this would be a great 1st birthday smash cake! Most babies love the taste of banana, and you don’t have to feel so bad feeding them a cake full of empty calories!

Wholesome Banana Chocolate Chip Cake, Why I love making it

How many times have we let banana go just a little too past their prime? I know I have on many occasions. We usually use ours up on The Best Soft and Thin Pancakes,or in the summertime I freeze them and make banana “ice cream”. There is also, the most popular, way to use up bananas, banana bread.

Wholesome Banana Chocolate Chips Cake is something a little more special. It truly is a cake, it is not dense like a banana bread at all. What’s even more special about it is that it has mashed bananas in the icing as well!

Ingredients

Cake batter

2 ½ Cups all-purpose flour 650mL

1 Tablespoon baking powder 15mL

1½ teaspoons baking soda 7mL

½ teaspoon salt 2mL

1 cup unsalted butter, softened 250mL

1¼ cups white sugar 300mL

3 eggs

1½ cups over-ripe, mashed bananas (about 3 bananas)

1 cup buttermilk 250mL

1 cup mini chocolate chips 250mL

Icing

½ unsalted butter, softened 125mL

½ cup mashed bananas (about 1 banana)

3 cups icing sugar 750mL

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 350ºF (180ºC).

2. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl and mixers), cream the butter and sugar until it looks light and fluffy.

4. One at a time, add each egg. Mix a few seconds after each addition. I like to crack my egg into a small bowl before adding it into my batter. That way if an eggshell goes in you can easily get it out, rather than ruining your cake batter.

5. Add the mashed bananas, and mix well.

6. In two additions, add one half of the flour mixture, alternating with one half of the buttermilk. Mix slightly after each addition. Then add the last half of the flour mixture, mix, followed by the last half of the buttermilk. Mix until all is incorporated.

7. Stir in the chocolate chips, or the add-in you have decided to use in your cake.

8. Spread the batter into a greased cake pan. Whatever shape you prefer, just make sure the size is appropriate for the amount of batter you have. Or you could also use a lined cupcake tin.

9. Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Let the cake cool completely before adding the icing. If you are making cupcakes, bake for 30-35 mins.

10. For the icing: Cream all the ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer, with the paddle attachment, (or a medium bowl and mixers). Spread on the cooled cake.

Wholesome Banana Chocolate Chip Cake Alternatives

Replacing the mini chocolate chips with butterscotch chips, dark chocolate chips, Skor bits would be an amazing swap-out! There are so many varieties or the Chipits pieces now, at least at my grocery store. If you check out that little baking section, I am sure you will find something that would compliment the flavours of this cake, other than the ones I could think of.

Another great replacement would be switching out the chocolate chips for nuts, walnuts or maybe macadamia nuts. Just make sure you chop them up small before adding them.

You could also chop up little candy bar pieces, something that would pair well with the flavours of the cake.

Or if you want to keep the recipe the same, adding a little caramel drizzle to the top would be extra decadent!

Let me know what you ended up adding to your cake! Did you use it for a special occasion?