Valentine's Day

Two-Serving Banana Cake with Chocolate-Peanut Butter Frosting

by:
February  3, 2017
4.5
2 Ratings
Two-Serving Banana Cake with Chocolate-Peanut Butter Frosting
Photo by Christina Lane
  • Makes 2 generous servings
Author Notes

This recipe is from my book Sweet and Simple: Dessert for Two (Countryman Press 2017).

Another day, another chance to grab the box of extra-dark cocoa powder from the pantry. In fact, I have completely made the switch to dark cocoa powder when it comes to chocolate frostings.

Oh, I’m sorry, did you come here for cake too? We should really talk about this banana cake. A friend recently gushed to me about her mom’s banana cake with chocolate frosting. And it got me thinking: Can banana cake really be that much different than banana bread? The answer is maybe it can, but it’s also okay to not stray too far either. Banana bread is soft, tender, and delicious. And banana cake is also all of those things, but with a dark chocolate peanut butter frosting. You feel me? —DessertForTwo

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • For the cake:
  • 1 large ripe banana
  • 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 tablespoons neutral oil (or coconut oil)
  • 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • For the frosting:
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 2 tablespoons peanut butter
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons dark cocoa powder
  • 1 cup confectioners' sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • A few splashes of milk, as needed
Directions
  1. Preheat the oven to 375° F and line a 9- by 5-inch bread loaf pan with parchment paper. (I use parchment paper to line all of the pan, with some extra paper on the edges to use as handles to lift out the dessert.)
  2. In a medium-size bowl, smash the banana very well until almost no lumps remain.
  3. Next, stir in the sugar, egg, oil, and vanilla extract. Stir very well until blended. Add the sour cream and stir until evenly incorporated.
  4. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients and stir until combined.
  5. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 28 to 32 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean, with a few moist crumbs clinging to it. Let the cake cool on a wire rack
  6. Meanwhile, beat together all of the frosting ingredients until light and fluffy, adding milk as needed to make a smooth, spreadable consistency.
  7. Frost the cake with the chocolate peanut butter frosting and serve sliced in half, for two large pieces of banana cake.
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2 Reviews

JJGood
JJGood April 25, 2017
Granted that I was doomed from the get-go by attempting to make this cake with relatively fresh bananas instead of overripe, but I found it much too sweet. Were I to make it again, I'd try reducing the sugar in the batter by at least a third, and top it with a chocolate cream cheese frosting rather than a sugary icing.
 
C
C February 12, 2017
Do you think you can use cake flour instead of regular flour?