I decided to wing it with this one. After all, making cakes week in and week out gives one a fair idea of how to do it right… right?! Based loosely on my own adaptation of Tracy Benjamin’s Hippy Banana Bread, and loosely on my own ideas of how to make a vegan chocolate cake, this double chocolate banana cake could not be easier. Sure, it sank on more than one occasion, which is why it’s now in bundt form, but if you want to make it in a regular loaf pan, don’t let me stop you! It’ll taste just as good, and you can blame me if it doesn’t!
I generally keep a stock of black bananas in the freezer just for those occasions when one of us has a craving for banana bread. Several weeks ago, Mister 6 was begging for choc chip banana muffins (actual words, “I want carrot banana cake”), so I made my tried and tested banana, chocolate and chia muffins for his lunchbox. But then that got me thinking about cake, and about how I hadn’t yet tried making double chocolate banana bread. I had found a tub of coconut yoghurt on special at the shops, so the time was ripe for recipe testing.
Three days and three loaves later, I had used up all the yoghurt and was delivering cake to the staff room at my son’s school (they love to see me coming)! After trialling it with coconut sugar (too dry) and chia seeds (too crunchy) I decided to go with my gut and stick with the very first version. It’s densely rich, deeply chocolate-y, simple, straight to the point, and easily adaptable to regular ingredients (see Notes section below). If you make it, don’t forget to take a photo, upload to Instagram, and tag @sweet_tucker in your pics!
Double Chocolate Banana Cake {vegan, GF}
A quick and easy banana bread, free from gluten, dairy and eggs!
Serves 12
Ingredients
1 cup White Wings plain (all-purpose) gluten-free flour*
1 cup almond flour (blanched almond meal)
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking (bicarb) soda
½ cup dairy-free choc chips
½ cup coconut or almond yoghurt**
½ cup olive or sunflower oil
½ cup brown sugar (more to taste)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar***
3 to 4 over-ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup puree)
Ganache
¼ cup full-fat plant milk or cream
100g vegan dark chocolate, chopped
Method
Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Grease the inside of a bundt tin thoroughly with margarine, and then dust with a light coating of cocoa powder. Bang pan upside down over sink to release excess powder. Set aside.
Sift together the flours, cocoa, baking powder, and soda into a large mixing bowl. Add in choc chips and stir to coat.
In a separate bowl, add the yoghurt, oil, sugar and vinegar, whisking to breaking up any lumps. With a wooden spoon, stir in the mashed bananas. Add the liquids to the flour mixture, stirring until just combined. Spoon batter into prepared tin, evening out the top if necessary.
Place tin in the oven and bake until cake feels dry and springs back from your touch, 50 to 60 minutes (cover with foil tent at 40 min). Remove the cake from the oven, wait 15 minutes, and then turn the pan over onto a cooling rack. After 5 more minutes, lift the pan off the cake. Let the cake cool completely before icing.
To make ganache, heat plant milk until almost boiling. Remove from heat and add chopped chocolate. Leave to sit for 3 minutes, then begin stirring with a spoon slowly from the centre, and keep stirring until chocolate begins melting. Continue stirring until ganache becomes smooth and velvety, then pour over cake, allowing excess to run down the sides. Allow to set fully before slicing.
Notes
The recipe is moist and lovely as a Bundt cake form but also translates marvellously to cakes of all shapes and sizes, including layer cakes and cupcakes. You’ll need to adjust the time spent in the oven accordingly; start checking the cake or cupcakes for doneness after 20 to 25 minutes and trust that when a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out without any crumbs clinging to it, your cake is done and you can do your happy dance.
*Use regular plain wheat flour instead of gluten-free
**Use dairy yoghurt instead of plant-based
***Use white vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar