Chocolate Banana Cake

In a bid to use up more bananas, I made Chocolate Banana Cake. I was very happy that I did, and sorry that I waited so long to bake it!

It's not difficult to make a cake from scratch, and this is a great one to try if you're a baking novice. The bananas will help keep it moist.

In a large bowl, mix together all of the dry ingredients - flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar, which could really be mixed in with the wet ingredients. In another bowl, mix together your wet ingredients - eggs, mashed banana, water, milk, oil, and vanilla extract. I didn't measure my bananas - I just put in two because that's what I wanted to use anyway.

[Don't just dump in your bananas and try to mash them while you mix! That's what I attempt half of the time, and trust me, it doesn't work particularly well.]

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until combined. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan and bake in a 350F oven for 35-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

I didn't have whipping cream to make ganache, but I improvised. I put about a quarter of a bag of chocolate chips in a bowl with a little milk (probably about a tablespoon, although I didn't measure). I microwaved it for 30 seconds (in my 700 watt oven) and stirred it until all the chocolate was melted. I spread this on the cooled cake, and it made a very thin layer of chocolate on top. This cake is rich enough that it doesn't need frosting, but the chocolate layer certainly made the cake pretty.

This was very delicious cake. It was incredibly moist, even days after I baked it. It had a strong, rich chocolate and banana flavor. The thin layer of chocolate was delicious and added just the right amount of extra sweetness to the cake. [Disclaimer: I don't like frosting that much.] This was a very satisfying cake, one that was very simple to make and that doesn't even really need frosting. If you like chocolate bananas, I strongly recommend that you make this cake.