Banana Chocolate Cake

This Banana Chocolate Cake recipe is very easy to make. 4 soft and moist banana cake layers frosted with chocolate cream cheese frosting. 

As you may already know, I’m a sucker for everything with banana and chocolate. So it’s obligatory to have a Banana Chocolate Cake recipe on my blog, isn’t it?

Four heavenly soft and moist banana cake layers filled and frosted with heavenly creamy chocolate cream cheese frosting. My mouth is again watering when I’m saying that out loud.

Fun fact about me. After I’m done with baking and shooting, I start editing my photos and videos. And after a while, I desperately start craving a slice or piece of whatever I’m editing at that moment. And this happens to me all the time, no matter if I had already something sweet or not.

For example, I edited a Hot Chocolate Cake and this Banana Chocolate Cake after another. When I was editing the Hot Chocolate Cake, I thought by myself, ok let’s grab a piece. When I started editing the Banana Chocolate Cake photos afterward, well you know what happened.

You can be sure that a half an hour later, I already sat with a slice of it in front of my MacBook. Maybe because I see the cake on my screen for a while, my brain starts reacting to this with cravings.

Recently I learned about a study that researched a similar phenomenon. They showed two groups of people the same movie. Group one saw the movie how it was without any messages. Group two, on the other hand, got flashed with pictures of an ice tea can throughout the playing of the movie.

The can was shown a thousandth of a second every few seconds that the human eye can not see it consciously. In fact, group two drank significantly more ice tea during the movie break than group one.

Even if you don’t notice it consciously, your subconscious reacts to such impulse.

So maybe it’s not just me. Maybe other food photographers or bloggers experience something similar? Maybe they also start craving what they are editing.

Ha. I have a great idea. I could create a course on how you can lose weight with photo editing. The enrolled students have to edit pictures of salads and other healthy stuff every day. Then they start losing weight because they eat healthier. Just kidding. But genius. But just kidding. For real.

Ok, enough psychology talk. Let’s come back to this banana and chocolate situation here.

The banana cake is prepared in a couple of minutes. Stir eggs, brown sugar, oil, mashed bananas, and vanilla until combined. Then stir in flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon to combine. Pour into two baking pans and bake.

I always layer the sides and the bottom of my pans with parchment paper because it is so easy to remove the cake from the pans after baking and chilling the cake. Literally just invert the pan on your hand, and the cake comes out on its own. If the paper didn’t cover the whole pan accurately, maybe you need to jiggle the pan a little bit.

Cutting off the uneven cake tops creates a flat surface and helps that your cake is straight. You can skip that if you don’t mind. But I have to say that it makes frosting the cake much easier.

I really love buttercream, but this time I decided to go with a cream cheese frosting. It fits the banana cake perfectly. It is not overly sweet, and the consistency is super creamy.

Just beat butter, cream cheese, and vanilla until creamy. Sift in powdered sugar and cocoa. Stir until creamy and smooth. Add salt to your taste. If the frosting is too thick, you can lighten it with 1-2 tbsp of milk. If it is too soft, add more powdered sugar.

This Banana Chocolate Cake is

• soft
• creamy
• chocolatey
• loaded with banana taste
• easy to make
• out of this world delicious

And? Are you craving a slice of Banana Chocolate Cake after looking through the photos?

If you make this Banana Chocolate Cake recipe leave a comment, rate it and tag a photo #alsothecrumbsplease on Instagram! Would love to see your snap!

You may also like Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Bread, Super Moist Banana Nut Muffins, Bananas Foster Cake, Soft and Moist Chocolate Banana Muffins, or click here to see all recipes.

5 from 1 vote

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Banana Chocolate Cake

Prep Time

30 mins

Cook Time

16 mins

Total Time

46 mins

 

This Banana Chocolate Cake recipe is very easy to make. 4 soft and moist banana cake layers frosted with chocolate cream cheese frosting. 

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: banana chocolate cake recipe

Servings: 16 servings

Calories: 439 kcal

Author: Also The Crumbs Please

Ingredients

banana cake

• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (100g)
• 1 cup vegetable oil (240ml)
• 15 oz mashed bananas (425g)
• 1 vanilla bean* (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
• 2+1/4 cups all-purpose flour (270g)
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

chocolate cream cheese frosting

• 1/2 cup butter (113g)
• 1 cup cream cheese (8oz / 226g)
• 1 vanilla bean* (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
• 3 cups powdered sugar (360g)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (42g)
• pinch of salt
• 1-2 tbsp milk (if needed)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Line the bottom and the sides of three 8" (20cm) spring pans with parchment paper. Set aside.

2. Make the cake: In a large mixing bowl, using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, stir eggs, brown sugar, oil, mashed bananas, and vanilla* on medium speed until smooth and well combined for about 2 minutes. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon just to combine. Pour the batter into the three prepared pans equally (using a kitchen scale is most accurate). Bake for about 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick centered in the middle comes out clean. Let cool to room temperature.

3. Make the frosting: In a large mixing bowl, using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, whisk butter, cream cheese, and vanilla* on medium speed until creamy about 2-3 minutes. Sift in powdered sugar and cocoa and stir until well combined and creamy. Add salt to your taste and stir to combine. If the frosting is too firm, add 1 tbsp milk at the time until you reach a smooth and creamy consistency. 1-2 tbsp milk will be enough. If the frosting is too soft, add more powdered sugar. Watch the video to see the consistency of the frosting.

4. Cut a thin layer off the tops of your cakes to create a flat surface. Place one cake layer on a cake stand, turner, or serving plate. Spread 1/3 of the frosting over the cake. Repeat one more time. Place last cake layer on top and lightly frost the outside and the sides of the cake with the remaining frosting. Chill 4 hours in the fridge or overnight. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge up to 3 days. 

Recipe Video

Notes

*First, cut off the straight end of the vanilla bean. Then place the tip of your sharp knife below the curled end and cut the vanilla bean through the middle of the bean lengthwise. Although you don't need to cut it all the way through, it's ok when you do so. Then open the vanilla bean and scrape out the flavorful seeds with the back of your knife. Then just use the seeds.