Chocolate Banana Cake

The combination of chocolate and bananas kind of never fails. This cake is super moist, and has what I consider the right level of sweetness to qualify as breakfast, a snack, or—with some whipped cream or sweetened crème fraiche—dessert.  A cake for any time of day—that’s a cake we can all get behind.

When I was a kid, about 7,8,9 the first recipes I made ALL THE TIME were Tollhouse Chocolate Chip Cookies and Bisquick Coffee Cake  I remember waking up early on a weekend morning and making that coffee cake, so pleased with myself.  I also remember making such a huge mess that my mom was never as excited as I’d hoped she’s be about the cake, but more pissed about the explosion I’d created in the kitchen.

Now it’s my husband who is less than thrilled about the mess, but somehow still happy to see the food.

And of course there were leftovers, and this was also the first time I realized a cake could be a breakfast food, a snack food, an anytime of day cake.  This was a very good discovery.  In Dinner Solved there is a Berry Coffee Cake which is another any-time-of-day cake.  A dollop of whipped cream or a sprinkle of powdered sugar can also turn an anytime of day cake into a dessert.

These are valuable life lessons.  I hope you have a pen to jot down notes.

And if you like baking with bananas as much as I do…

• Banana Bread with Chocolate and Crystallized Ginger
• Mini Banana Bread Loaves
• Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting