Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Chocolate Banana Quick Cake


This chocolate cake will certainly make you go bananas! Just like its title in Tish Boyle's Cake Book, it is easy breezy and quick to whip up and most importantly, decadently good to eat! It is chocolatey rich, wonderfully moist and banana-ly fragrant! I've tried four cakes from Boyle's book and so far, none has disappoint. If you're expecting guests over for tea, you can dress this cake up to further impress with practically zero effort! After baking is done and 20 minutes out of the oven, invert the cake from the baking tray onto a cake plate or cake stand. Remove the baking paper that lined the bottom (now the bottom becomes the top after inverted). Leave until the cake is completely cool. Just before serving, place a doily on the cake and using a sifter, sieve some icing sugar all over to cover the surface. Gently lift up the doily away from the cake so that the rest of the icing sugar on the doily doesn't spill onto the cake and spoil the pattern. You'll get a pretty neat pattern on the cake. Decorate the center with fresh berries of your choice.








Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
1/4 tsp salt (omit salt if using salted butter)
1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar (I reduced it to 3/4 cup for less sweetness)
2 large eggs
1 1/3 cups mashed ripe bananas
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream (I used yoghurt)
4 ounces (113 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped










Method:

- Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda into a medium bowl. Add the salt. Mix well to combine. Set aside. 
- In a bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until creamy and light. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
- Add the mashed bananas and vanilla extract until well blended.
- At low speed, add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating it with the sour cream or yoghurt in two additions. Mix until well combined.
- By hand, stir in the chopped chocolate.
- Scrap the batter with a spatula into a paper-lined 9 inch baking pan. Smooth the top with the spatula.
- Bake the cake for 55 minutes at 160 deg Celsius or until an inserted cake tester comes out clean.
- Cool the cake in the pan for 20 minutes, then turn it onto a plate to cool completely.







23 comments:

  1. Wah, cantiknya! The cake looks so good! Your own yoghurt? What is missing is a birthday candle? :o)
    I got to take the TB's book and put it on my table!

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    1. aiyoh i so malas want to do own yoghurt. forgotten how already! must check yr blog again for the method if feel like making at home.

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  2. I liked the colours; looks delicious!

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  3. Sure looks moist! Very nicely decorated, not too overdone! :)

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  4. Love your decoration. Make this cake look so divine!

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  5. I love it, it looks perfectly moist and rich without being too dense! going to bookmark this!

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  6. Woooww...hermoso pastel es una tentaciĆ³n muy rica,los adornos son maravillosos y ricos los tengo en mi huerto y son muy dulces,abrazos hugs,hugs.

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  7. Yes the doily did a perfect makeover of your cake. I like the decor and the cake looks moist and I also like your cake stand.

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  8. Loved the dark cake...wow simply mouthwatering here!

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  9. I like how you decorated this cake, nice and sound good!

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  10. Waw! What a beautiful, stunning & well-decorated chocolate cake this surely is, my friend! :)

    WAW! WAW ! Waw! Now, I would like to savour a big pice,...thank you!

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  11. Looks scrumptious.What a difference the icing sugar decor makes.

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  12. What a lovely presentation! Sour cream always makes for the tenderest cakes and the chocolate in the ingredient list is unusual for a banana cake. Great idea!

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  13. Thankyou for the lovely comments! :-)

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  14. What a perfect cake. I love a chocolate cake with the sugar through the doily! Mmm mmm good. I am really not so sure of baking anything right now, I just had two failures...don't know if I can post them! :D This does sound tempting Jocelyn!

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    1. Hi Lyndsey, try again & you'll surely succeed soon. Just follow a good recipe like Tish Boyle's and you won't go wrong ;). Cheers!

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  15. How nice if I can have a piece to go with a cup of tea or coffee. :)

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  16. So cantik and look so soft n moist. pandei lu decorate..so simple n yet elegant. nanti bila kitchen dah siap, kita buat masak-masak eh...heehhhee

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  17. Hi Nyonya, wow! I love this cake. Hey, if I trade in my wife for a younger model, can make into a wedding cake? Ha ha ha ha.
    Love that chocolate colour......looks so moist and one spoon in mouth, mak punya nama pun lupa.
    Love your display and presentation, very classy.
    Have fun and keep well.
    Lee.

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  18. I made this cake and is delicious! I love chocolate and bananas together

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  19. Lovely cake! I like the way you decorate it.

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  20. Hi, just found your blog through PH's bloglist - i m echoing all the others comment - beautiful cake, and using the dolly was a brilliant idea :) i am definitely going to try this. Thanks for sharing, love such simple and creative ideas :) btw, just read your sweet potato donuts blog, thanks for those step by step photos, another recipe bookmarked :)

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