By Lyndsay Sung of Coco Cake


Golden autumn days: brown crunchy leaves, the hesitant start of long sleeves and a dusting of grey clouds rolling in... here in Vancouver, we hope for the sun but await the rain... but we've been mega blessed thusfar with a fine fall - days of sunshine, even as the air gets crisp and cold. The chill in the air always makes me want to hunker down, get cozy... and the perfect time for the oven to start cranking out some comfort. So why not throw together this super easy banana chocolate chip cake? Admittedly I've been a ravenous little baking pig lately because I've been nursing my now 7-week-old baby, and here's something I didn't know before having a kid - you can kind of eat whatever you want when you're nursing, because baby seems to suck away all the calories! Sweet!




 


This cake is moist from the bananas, a bit rich from the butter and fills your chocolate craving with loads of semi sweet chocolate chips. There's not too much added sugar because the ripe bananas help to sweeten the cake, and the spelt flour adds a teensy extra bit of "health" vibe to this cake. I made it in a 9 x 12 inch rectangular pan but you could easily use this recipe and make 2 dozen cake muffins, or a 2 layer 8 inch round cake for the banana cake lover (frost with chocolate ganache or vanilla buttercream).

We vaporized this cake in two days and I'm awaiting some bananas to ripen so I can make it and vaporize it again!



SPELT FLOUR BANANA CHOCOLATE CHIP CAKE

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup loosely packed golden yellow sugar (or brown sugar)
1 egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 ripe bananas - medium/large in size
3 cups spelt flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups milk (i used 2% organic)
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips

Make it!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray with nonstick oil and line a 9 x 12 inch rectangular cake pan with parchment paper.

1. Using a stand mixer or handheld beaters, cream the butter on high speed in a large bowl for a minute or so.
2. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
3. On low speed, scraping down sides of bowl with spatula, add egg, peeled bananas and pure vanilla extract until incorporated.
4. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, salt and baking powder.
5. On low speed, alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk until all ingredients are incorporated (do not overmix)
6. Fold in chocolate chips (or throw em into the mixer if feeling lazy!)

Bake in oven on middle rack for 25-30 minutes, depending on how hot your oven gets. Turn pan halfway through. Check cake after 20 minutes and every few minutes thereafter. (I hate an overdone cake!) Cake is finished when a clean toothpick inserted in middle come out clean.