Banana Chocolate Chip Cake plus Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

At a glance

What stands out: This banana chocolate chip cake is ultra-moist, loaded with chocolate chips, and topped with a thick layer of chocolate cream cheese frosting. You’ll love it because it’s a straightforward one bowl cake that turns out well every time, and you can use those overripe bananas on your counter.

How long it takes: a few hours (including baking and cooling time); only 20 minutes prep time
Equipment you’ll need: electric mixer, mixing bowl, 9 x 13 baking pan
Servings: 15

Bananas and chocolate, a match made in heaven, wouldn’t you say? If you’re not convinced, try triple chocolate banana muffins or chocolate chip banana bread.

This banana cake is one of our absolute favorite things that our mom makes. It is so moist, and topped with chocolate cream cheese frosting, it is just reliable.

Another totally excellent combination is banana cake with lemon cream cheese frosting but we’ll save that for another day.

A standby Banana chocolate Chip Cake

We took this recipe totally over the top. We did think about making the cake with less frosting. If you were making a layer cake with this recipe, the amount of frosting would be reliable. However, if you don’t have a HUGE sweet tooth, we'd suggest halving the frosting for a 9 x 13 inch cake.

Our mother in law said this was “a standby cake and frosting she ever had.” And let us tell you, the woman is no cake novice. We consider this an expert opinion.

Our husband loves it, too. He keeps calling it banana bread. We like that because it sounds healthier than it is. Our kids love anything with chocolate so you can guess their opinion.

About This Banana Cake Recipe

It’s straightforward to mix. All of us have made simple cake mixes from the box: pour the mix into a bowl, add eggs, oil, and water and beat with an electric mixer. Imagine a cake made from scratch that isn’t all that much more difficult. There’s a bit more measuring but that’s about it. You’ll still need an electric mixer and one mixing bowl. You have to smush the bananas but that’s a pretty straightforward job. Use a fork or a pastry cutter to make speedy work of the bananas.

All natural ingredients. Yes, cake mixes contain extra additives that your from-scratch cake doesn’t have. Take a look at some of the ingredients contained in a well-known brand. Things like wheat starch, sodium stearoyl lactylate, fractionated palm oil, cellulose gum, artificial colors and flavors, and other nasty sounding stuff.

Lots of real bananas. If you look at that banana cake mix, you’ll see it contains less than 2% dehydrated banana flakes instead of the three real bananas in your from-scratch cake. We'd say the choice is pretty simple. Give this from-scratch cake a try and we think you’ll agree.

Angela Said:

“Our husband said, “This is hands down, the greatest cake you have ever made.” we've made a lot of cakes. Thanks!”

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Helpful Tips

Use ripe bananas. How ripe should bananas be for banana cake? The riper the bananas are, the sweeter the cake will be, with so much banana flavor. The bananas should be completely yellow, with lots of brown freckles. Even if they are somewhat soft and maybe almost all brown, they’re just reliable for banana cake, banana muffins, or banana bread. If you happen to have an excess, freeze bananas to use later. It’s straightforward. No more throwing away those overripe bananas on your counter!

Measure the mashed bananas. Be sure to measure the mashed bananas before adding them to the batter. Bananas vary widely in size and you may not need 3 bananas if your bananas are large.

Accurately measure the flour. Measure your flour correctly. Use a spoon to scoop the flour out of the storage container. Lightly fill the measuring cup and then level the top with a straight edge. Don’t shake the flour down to settle it or you’ll end up with too much flour. Too much flour results in a dry, heavy cake.

Keep the chocolate chips from sinking. One trick that we've used frequently is to toss the chocolate chips in a bit of flour or cocoa powder before adding them. You can use this tip when adding dried fruit or berries to a cake too. It’s not always 100% effective though.
A tip that we've been using more lately is a little different. Don’t add the chocolate chips to the batter right away. Pour half of the plain batter into the pan; fold the chocolate chips into the remaining batter and then add it to the top of the batter already in the pan. Don’t stir both layers together. Bake as directed. This trick works well and we think you’ll like the results.
P.S. Mini chocolate chips are light enough so that they don’t sink to the bottom.

Possible Recipe Variations

• Add ins: Instead of mini chocolate chips, add walnuts, pecans, or even raisins. You can make a plain banana cake with no chips or nuts too.
• Frosting options: Top your cake with vanilla cream cheese frosting or vanilla butter cream frosting. Try peanut butter frosting (who doesn’t love that classic combo: bananas and peanut butter?). If you’re in a pinch, a can of frosting is always an option.
• Skip the frosting. This cake is so moist and flavorful, a light dusting of confectioner’s sugar will do the job just fine and may be better for those who don’t have a big sweet tooth.

Keeping leftovers

Unless you’re serving the cake within a few hours of making it, it should be refrigerated to keep the cream cheese frosting fresh. It will keep for a few days in the refrigerator as long as it is covered well.

• Yield: 15
• Prep: 20 minutes
• Cook: 35 minutes
• Total: 2 hours 55 minutes

Ingredients

Cake

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup mashed bananas, about 3 medium-sized bananas (see note #1)
• ½ cup buttermilk (see note #2)
• ½ cup shortening
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Frosting

• 8 ounces (1 package) cream cheese, softened (regular or reduced-fat)
• ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 to 3 teaspoons milk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• 4 cups powdered sugar (confectioners' sugar)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease or lightly spray a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with nonstick spray.
2. Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
3. Add mashed bananas, buttermilk, shortening, eggs, and vanilla to the bowl. With an electric mixer, beat on low-speed until ingredients are combined, scraping sides of bowl as needed, about 1 minute.
4. Increase to medium speed and beat for 3 minutes. Fold in chocolate chips.
5. Spread cake batter into prepared pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean or with crumbs.
6. Cool completely before frosting.
7. In large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat together cream cheese, butter, vanilla, and milk until smooth.
8. Add cocoa powder and powdered sugar, one cup at a time, and continue to beat on low speed until frosting is smooth and is desired consistency. Spread on cooled cake.

Notes

Bananas: Be sure to measure the bananas once you’ve mashed them to make sure you have 1 cup. Bananas can vary widely in size. Use bananas that are ripe for the sweetest flavor. Brown freckled bananas are reliable and it doesn’t matter if they’re a little soft.

Buttermilk substitute: Add 1 tablespoon white vinegar to ½ cup of milk, stir and let set for 2 minutes.

Frosting: This makes a pretty big batch of frosting. It’s actually enough to frost a layer cake. If you prefer less frosting, make a half batch by cutting the frosting ingredients in half.

Storage: Cake with cream cheese frosting should be stored in the refrigerator.