Mochanana Cake

  • Mochanana Cake

    I am a girl who loves banana bread.  And although I can’t do coffee anymore (still mourning the fact that my stomach says an adamant No to caffeine, even decaf tea and coffee, boo hoo), I bake with it as often as I can so I can live vicariously through the lives of the lucky people I force-feed my desserts to.  (Remember the Chocolate Mocha Cake with Fudgy Frosting?  Dear God.  Be still my beating heart.)

    So an opportunity to combine banana bread and chocolate and coffee is a trifecta win for me, to say the least.  I know this recipe is technically called a cake, but it’s really just an amazing banana bread baked into a cake shape and covered with an incredibly alcoholic glaze (which you can make without alcohol if you so desire, by the way).  If you’re really wanting an official banana cake, because sometimes we need one of those in our lives, make this Banana Cake recipe and use the glaze over top.  Oh, and add espresso powder to the mix.  And chocolate chunks.  So there- everyone’s happy.  :)

    Adapted from my Banana Nut Bread recipe…

    1 1/4 cups all-purpose, unbleached flour

    2 teaspoons instant espresso powder (or 2 tablespoons instant coffee granules)

    3/4 teaspoons baking soda

    1 teaspoon salt

    1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (6 tablespoons in total) unsalted butter, softened

    3/4 cups light brown sugar (packed)

    1 large egg

    1 1/2 cups bananas (very ripe, mashed, about 3 – 4 medium)

    2 teaspoons Kahlua (or other coffee liqueur)

    1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

    3/4 cup chopped bittersweet chocolate chunks

    GLAZE:

    1 cup confectioners’ sugar

    1 – 2 tablespoons Kahlua coffee liquor (or very strong coffee/espresso)

    1 tablespoon instant espresso (optional, for garnish)

    1. Preheat oven to 325° and grease a 9″ cake pan.
    2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
    3. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer.  Add egg, bananas, Kahlua and vanilla, beating at medium speed until thick.  Scrape sides of bowl.
    4. Add flour mixture and chocolate chunks, and stir on low speed until just combined… be careful not to overmix.
    5. Pour batter into cake pan and bake for 45 – 50 minutes (until cake tester comes out clean).  Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove to cool to room temperature.
    6. GLAZE: stir ingredients together until smooth, adding more sugar or liqueur/coffee as needed to reach pourable consistency.  Pour over cake and allow to set before slicing (unlike me, as you can see by the photo above of the icing oozing down the side of the slice).  Sift espresso powder over top of cake if you’re so inclined.  Serve at room temperature.

    Tips:

    • Be careful when measuring ingredients.  Unlike me.
    • Use any kind of chocolate that you’d like.  Semi sweet is obviously sweeter than bittersweet, so if you’re after sweetness, then that might be your ticket.
    • Try adding 3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder to the flour mixture if you want a notch up on the chocolate scale.  I kind of wish I did that now.
    • Lazy?  Rushed?  Skip the glaze altogether and just eat the cake plain.  Well, maybe with coffee ice cream on the side.  Or vanilla.  Or chocolate.  OR- all three.  I dare you.
    • Enjoy!

     

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    June 28th, 2014 | More Sweets Please | No Comments | Tags: , ,

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