Absolutely Delicious Banana Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

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.

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!

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!)

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!