Black & White Banana Cake

I'm not a big fan of bananas. ... if I'm given a choice to choose between an apple and a banana, I will not hesitate to grab that apple.

But I love to add bananas in my bakes. Shared previously the lighter version with no vegetable oil or butter added here, reduced butter Banana Bread, a healthier version with added oatmeal here.

Got 3 large overripe bananas but 1 was rotten, so could only use 2 bananas to make the cake.

I'm sure banana cake is the all-time classic cake. This duo flavour banana cake is so easy to bake. With just one batter and add the cocoa powder last in the remaining batter.  Of course, you could have all chocolate batter or just plain banana batter.  But sometimes I like to have a duo colour tone or marbling effect of the cake ... a nice "visual presentation" of my bake before I nom nom nom... hee.. hee ! The texture is not too dense, but moist with a tender crumb.  Love both the buttery & banana fragrant.

Recipe source, largely adapted from : Taste and Tell

Below my slightly modified version as I've reduced the quantity of some ingredients.

Black & White Banana Cake

Ingredients

116g butter, softened at room temperature

140g caster sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

250g ripe bananas, peeled & mashed

189g all-purpose plain flour, sifted

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

28g  unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted

Dust with some snow powder (optional)

Method :

1) Position the rack in the middle and preheat oven to 180°C. Note : The temperature of the oven may vary, do adjust accordingly.

2) Line a 8x8-inch baking pan with lightly greased parchment paper.

3) In a big clean bowl, combine the sifted flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

4) In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and caster sugar using an electric mixer at medium speed for about 2 - 3 minutes until smooth. Add in the egg and vanilla extract, then beat in the mashed bananas for about 1 - 2 minutes.

5) Stir in the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Spread about 2/3 of the mixture in the bottom of the baking pan. Add the cocoa powder to the remaining batter, mix well and gently spread over the top of the batter.

6) Bake for about 35-40 minutes. Check for doneness with a skewer inserted into the center of the cake if it comes out clean.  

Serve warm if you like. Transfer onto a wire rack to cool completely before storing in airtight container.  

Sprinkle with some snow powder

Having said that I'm not a big fan of banana ... but I enjoy a slice of these chocolaty moist and tender crumb banana cake.  Served warm and dust with some snow powder. Enjoy !