Chocolate Banana Cake with Glazed Walnuts

When my son decided to join track team in his school, I secretly rejoiced.  He's not one to like a team sports and asking him to go to the gym with me and my husband is like pulling teeth.  The only sport that he tolerates is swimming and he's pretty good at it, but because of church commitment, he seldom could participate in swim meet.  This track and field activity is through his school which means it won't interfere with church but his time after school is filled with practice.  That means I have to pick him up from school late and that makes my days long as well.  Sigh.  And the track meet is incredibly long...

Then why did I rejoice?  Because for one thing, this gets him into exercising.  He's now into running, albeit in beginner's level, and he wants to track all his running into his Runkeeper app.  With that newfound interest, I'm able to join him in the running process and I like it.  Now I have a partner to run on the weekends!

But, then there's a problem with those time on the weekends.  The time I usually am home, baking or cooking, is now divided.  I have less time to be in the kitchen and even lesser time to play around with food for my blog.  Consequently this blog will see fewer posts until track and field is done.  Oh well, such is life...  But, I have this cake recipe that I've been keeping on my computer for a while and I think it's time to write it down here before it gets way too old.  My family enjoyed this cake because there's banana and there's chocolate.  This cake didn't use eggs and has a potential to become a vegan cake if the milk used is substituted with vegan milk.  I didn't try it so I won't know how the flavor would turn out but this cake was plenty moist and scrumptious.  Do give it a try!

Chocolate Banana Cake with Glazed Walnuts

Yields one 8-inch cake


Banana Cake:
1/4 cup milk
6 Tablespoons melted coconut oil
6 Tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups mashed ripe bananas--approximately 5 medium bananas
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup walnuts, chopped, toasted--optional

Chocolate Cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup pure maple syrup
1 1/4 cup milk
6 Tablespoons melted coconut oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

Maple Glazed Walnuts:
1 cup walnuts
1/4 cup pure maple syrup

Dark Chocolate Glaze:
1 cup milk
1/2 pound high-quality extra dark chocolate--I used Lindt 70% bittersweet chocolate
1 vanilla bean, scraped
1 pinch salt


Preheat oven to 350F.

To make banana cake:  Lightly oil and dust a 8" round springform cake pan with flour, shaking out excess.

Put the milk, oil, maple syrup, vanilla and bananas in a blender and blend until smooth.  In a large bowl combine dry ingredients.  Add banana mixture and combine using as few strokes as possible.  Fold in walnuts.

Pour batter into cake pan and smooth the top.  Make the chocolate cake.

To make chocolate cake:  Lightly oil and dust a 8" round spring form cake pan with flour, shaking out excess.  In a large bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Whisk to combine.

In a separate bowl combine the maple syrup, milk, melted coconut oil, vanilla and vinegar.  Whisk to combine.  Pour the wet ingredients into dry ingredients and whisk to remove any lumps.

Pour batter into cake pan and smooth the top.  Place in the oven with the banana cake, on the same rack if possible so they bake evenly,  and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45-50 minutes.  Let cakes cool on the cooling rack for 10 minutes, then release the springform ring from the cakes.  Let cakes cool completely.

To make maple glazed walnuts:  In a dry skillet over medium heat, lightly toast walnuts until fragrant.  Add maple syrup to the pan and toss quickly to coat.  Remove from pan to let cool.

To make dark chocolate glaze:  Slice vanilla bean lengthwise, scrape out the seeds and place them in a small saucepan.  Add cold milk to the saucepan and warm slowly over medium heat.  When hot, remove from heat and add chocolate.  Stir until fully melted, whisk in a pinch of salt.  Keep warm.

To assemble cake:  Slice each cake in half horizontally.  Slice the very tops off the cakes to make them straight.

Start with one half of the chocolate cake on the bottom, spoon on about 1/4 of the glaze, with the majority being around the edge so that it oozes out when you place the next layer.  Place a banana cake layer on top of the chocolate layer and spoon on glaze, repeat until the top layer.  Pour the remaining glaze on top of the cake and top with maple glazed walnuts.  Serve.


Source:  adapted from My New Roots Apps by Sarah B.

Pretty in Pink Cake

My first attempt of making a naked cake and it turned out very, very pink!  I've always wanted to recreate this cake and this week seemed to be an appropriate week for a pink cake (*hint: Valentine's Day is this Sunday).

I've made this cake with the original fruit, which was strawberry, back when I just starting to blog.  Everything was so new and I was still in the process of learning how to bake and how to style my food so it would look good presentation wise.  In fact, I found the photo, which inspired me to make it again.  Here it is:

That photo was an embarrassment to my existence!  I don't know why I missed so many no-no's with food back then but I guess somewhere, sometime, I had to learn, right.  It was taken by a small Sony digital camera that ceased to function a few years ago, and it was my first digital camera.  Anyway, I honestly couldn't remember how the cake tasted at the time so by making it again I hope I can reacquaint my love for the cake.

It is basically a chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting with the addition of strawberry preserves and decorated simply with fresh strawberries.  This time around, it is raspberry preserves with fresh raspberries and I swapped semisweet baking chocolate with a bittersweet one.  I did take out some of the sugar measurement out from the icing because I thought 2 cups was going to be too sweet for my taste.  And I was glad I did.  The raspberry preserves is a homemade one because my preserves is the best 😝.  I decorated the cake with simple decoration of frosting and fruit because I like this look the best with a naked cake.  In the end, I fell in love with the cake again!

Pretty in Pink Cake

Serves 4

Schnappy Chocolate Cake

2 teaspoons unsalted butter, melted

2 ounces (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-ounce pieces

3/4 cup all-purpose flour plus 3 teaspoons

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 tablespoon Wilderberry schnapps

Pretty in Pink Icing

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-ounce pieces

6 ounces cream cheese, cut into 1-ounce pieces

1/2 cup raspberry preserves

4 to 5 drops red food color

Make the cake:  Preheat the oven to 350F.  Lightly coat the insides of three 6 x 2-inch aluminum cake pans, using the melted butter.  Flour the insides of each pan with 1 teaspoon flour.  Shake out and discard the excess flour.  Set aside until needed.

Melt the chopped chocolate and the 2 ounces butter in the top half of a double boiler, or in a small glass bowl in a microwave oven and stir until smooth.

In a sifter combine the 3/4 cup flour, the cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.  Sift onto a large piece of parchment or wax paper and set aside.

Place the granulated sugar and the eggs in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle.  Beat on medium-high speed for 3 minutes until the mixture is frothy and slightly thickened.  Add the chocolate and butter mixture and mix on medium to combine, about 15 seconds.  Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Operate the mixer on low while gradually adding the dry ingredients; mix until incorporated, about 45 seconds.  Add the schnapps and mix on low for 10 seconds.  Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a rubber spatula to finish mixing the ingredients until thoroughly combined.  Immediately divide the cake batter among the prepared pans (about 2/3 cup of batter in each pan) and spread evenly (the batter is very thick, so this will take a bit of spreading).

Bake on the center rack of the oven until a toothpick inserted into the center of each cake layers comes out clean, 15 to 16 minutes (do not overbake).  Remove the cake layers from the oven and cool in the pans for 15 minutes at room temperature.  Invert the cake layers onto cake circles or cake plates, then immediately turn the cake layers side up again.  

Make the icing:  Sift the confectioners' sugar onto a large piece of parchment or wax paper.  Set aside.

Place the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle.  Mix on low speed for 1 minutes, increase the speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes until soft.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle.  Beat on medium for another 2 minutes.  Add the confectioners' sugar and mix on lowest speed to combine, about 1 minutes.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle.  Now beat on medium for 10 seconds.  Transfer the butter and sugar mixture to a small bowl.

Place the cream cheese in the same bowl.  Mix on low speed for 1 minute, then increase the speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes until soft.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle.  Beat on medium for another 2 minutes until very soft.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle.  Add the raspberry preserves and beat on medium for 1 minute.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.  Add the butter and sugar mixture and beat on medium for 10 seconds.  Add the food color and beat for 15 seconds.

Assemble the cake:  Use a cake spatula to spread 3/4 cup of icing evenly and smoothly over the top and to the edges of the 2 cake layers.  Stack the iced layers, then top with the remaining cake layer.  Gently press the layers into place.  Spread the remaining icing over the top and sides of the cake using a combination of spatula and bench scraper.  Wipe excess frosting back into the bowl.  The cake is essentially getting a crumb coating so it will look naked.  If you want to make dollops of frosting on top of the cake, use a 1/2" plain tip and a French tip like I did.

Refrigerate the cake before cutting and serving. 

Source:  adapted from Celebrate with Chocolate by Marcel Desaulniers