Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Absolutely Delicious Banana Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

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Maybe it's not really that attractive, but you have got to try this if you love bananas, chocolate and walnuts.  This is one of those kinds of things that I could just keep eating and eating.   I first saw this cake over at Donna's blog, My Tasty Treasures.  (I'm just saying, be forewarned about her blog, but doggonit, her food always looks so yummy and I've made a recipe or two she's posted-always great!)  So Donna posted this cake who got it from so-and-so, who got it from.....well, you know how it goes.  It's actually from Bon Appetit 2003.  I adapted it a little, so here's the recipe as I made it, but go check out Donnas and whoever else made this.  It's one of my most favorite treats now.  I even adapted the recipe more since this one and made cupcakes.  Stay tuned for that!

Banana Chocolate Chip Cinnamon Coffee Cake, adapted from Bon Appetit 2003

3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped and toasted

1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon (heaping)

1  1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup granulated sugar

4 ounces coconut oil (original recipes uses 1 stick unsalted butter--I was actually out of butter (gasp), but loved how this turned out with the coconut oil

1 large egg

1  1/3 cups very ripe banana, mashed (I used about 4 small-medium bananas)

3 tablespoons buttermilk

Prehead oven to 350 degrees.  Butter and flour an 8 inch square pan (although I used a 10 inch round springform pan and it worked great!)

In a medium sized bowl, stir together the chocolate chips, brown sugar, walnuts, and cinnamon.  Set aside.

In another bowl, whisk together to sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer (this can be done all by hand if you use the oil as opposed to butter which beats together with the sugar better in a mixer), beat coconut oil and sugar until well combined.  Add egg and beat until fluffy.  Stir in mashed bananas and buttermilk.  Add dry ingredients  and blend well.  Spread half the batter in prepared baking pan.  Sprinkle half the streusel evenly over the first half.  Spread the remaining batter over that and top with the rest of the streusel topping.  Bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean (the original recipes says 45 minutes), with my bigger pan, I only baked it 25 minutes.  Cool on wire rack.

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Just writing up this post and looking at these photos makes me REALLY wish this cake wasn't all gone! ;) 

Well, and like I said I made another batch into cupcakes and made them even a little "healthier".  What?  Are you trying to tell me healthy cupcakes is an oxymoron?  Well, whatever.  While this cake is fabulous, I still don't just absolutely love cinnamon and chocolate together, so when I made the cupcakes, I left out the cinnamon.  I halved the cake recipe and it made 9 wonderful, moist cupcakes--no frosting needed!

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What?  Those don't look healthy to you? 

Banana Chocolate Chip Coffee Cupcakes, by Katrina

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/4 heaping cup walnuts, chopped and lightly toasted (okay, it was probably about 1/3 cup!)

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

scant 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

scant 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/4 cup coconut oil (can use butter or even canola oil)

1/2 an egg  (about 2 tablespoons of beaten egg) (I have powdered eggs, so I used 1 T. of powdered egg and 2 T. water)

3 small ripe bananas, mashed

2 tablespoons buttermilk

Prehead oven to 350 degrees.  Line 9 cups of a standard size muffin tin with paper liners.  Set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, stir together the chocolate chips, brown sugar, and walnuts.  Set aside.

In another bowl, whisk together to sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer (this can be done all by hand if you use the oil as opposed to butter which beats together with the sugar better in a mixer), beat coconut oil and sugar until well combined.  Add egg and beat until fluffy.  Stir in mashed bananas and buttermilk.  Add dry ingredients  and blend well.  Drop a heaping tablespoon or so of batter into each cupcake liner.  Sprinkle each with some of the streusel topping.  Add the remaining batter equally to each cup and top with the rest of the streusel topping.  Bake for 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean.  Cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove to wire rack to cool completely.  (Although these are GREAT still warm!)

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You cannot resist these!  (Okay, I cannot resist these!)  I have some ripe bananas sitting on the counter right now and I'm not afraid to use them!  Okay, I'll wait until tomorrow, but only because it's 11 p.m.!  Nite!

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18 comments:

♥peachkins♥ said...

I love the Big cake! It's absolutely gorgeous!

Leslie said...

oh good lord..the cake and muffins look amazing!

spike. said...

Both look great! yum, healthified muffins.

Unknown said...

Not attractive? Are you kidding me? The big cake and the little guys are gorgeous! I'm not usually a fan of banana cake or breads, but the walnuts and chocolate chips make this look extra special and extra delicious. I bet it's even better the second day...if it lasts that long!

Unknown said...

Oohh yum yum! Both the cake and the muffins look amazing! But I like the cake better, mainly because of the extra layer of streusel! I lovee streusel! Thank you for posting this :)

Fallon said...

I noticed you used coconut oil for the muffins. How did that work out? They look reallly moist!

Anonymous said...

Okay, yes. It does sound and look absolutely delicious. YUM.

Maria said...

Oh my I need some of that! You are going to Blogher Food? So am I! I can't wait to meet you!

Megan said...

Ok Katrina - I have my coffee ready - so hand over the cake and no one gets hurt.

Lisa Ernst said...

This looks fantastic! I would be hard pressed to choose between making the cake or the cupcakes. Both look so tempting. I could pretend its healthy since it has bananas and nuts in it, right? :-)

Katrina said...

Hey, Lisa,
Go for the cupcakes, they have whole wheat pastry flour, even more healthy! ;)

The Food Librarian said...

Oh my gosh! This looks delicious and huge! Like the size of a pizza! :) A wonderful combination of flavors!!! - mary

Unknown said...

I love the combination of flavors! I have to try this recipe!

Donna-FFW said...

Thanks for the shout out Katrina. I am so thrilled you enjoyed it. This looks fantastic, yours came out so beautiful! Love the adaptation and the cupcake idea too!!

Anonymous said...

This looks so good with the layer of streusel in the middle!

Maris said...

YUM banana chocolate chip. Excellent combination!

Fallon said...

Oh yum!!! I will have to bookmark this for next time. I love how you sub in coconut oil!

Paige said...

Katrina, I'll have to try this cake--I love bananas, chocolate and walnuts and a few years ago was trying to perfect a streusel banana cake recipe...not sure what happened to that project.

I got to this post via your TWD fresh fruit tart post. I wish I had seen it before class. I hope you'll try the pastry cream. Sorry I didn't get a chance to say "hi!" after class--you must have been gone in a flash.