I love baking with Bananas. This is only the 20th recipe I’m posting for Banana Cake It’s no secret I love baking with bananas, and it’s no secret either that bananas can do magic in baking. On this blog and my old blog chef on duty, bananas have been a regular feature.
What sets apart this Banana cake is, of course, the addition of peanut butter. It’s a match made in paradise. Also using chocolate ganache in the frosting upgrades this cake instantly. If you want to skip the frosting, all in all, that’s fine too. A banana cake has yet to disappoint anyone.
For this Banana Peanut cake, I’ve used very little sugar, mainly because the bananas add to the sweetness. If you like your cakes sweeter, add an extra 1/4th cup of castor sugar to the batter.
Other recipes using bananas :
There are plenty of banana bakes to choose from. Whole wheat banana bread, Banana Honey Cake, Banana Choco Chip Muffins, Banoffee Blondies Cinnamon Banana Bread, Banana Bread, Banana Bars or Banana Butterscotch Pudding. You name it and I have a recipe for it.
Substitutions in the Banana Peanut butter cake
I’ve used a mix of white and brown sugar for this recipe. The brown sugar does give the cake a slightly nutty flavour. Although, using all white sugar will work out just as fine, if you don’t have any brown sugar available.
For most baking, I like to use to robusta bananas. They tend to be sweeter and mushier, which I feel makes the cake moister. You can use Elaichi bananas too, just double the quantity and make sure they are super ripe or overripe.
A bundt pan seemed perfect for this cake, especially because I wanted to swirl in the white chocolate and milk chocolate ganache. You can definitely use a regular round cake tin as well. A 9 inch round tin will work perfectly. Adjust the baking time accordingly.
Do not be put off by the number of ingredients. The cake is really simple to make and the frostings take barely any time to make.
So let’s get baking
Banana Peanut Butter Cake :
You will need :
For the cake :
1/2 cup /1 stick/ 113 gms butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup castor sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 big bananas, roughly mashed (ripe or over ripe ones )
1 1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vinegar
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
For the milk chocolate ganache
75 gms milk chocolate, roughly chopped
75 gms cream
For the peanut butter ganache
2 tbsp peanut butter
75 gm white chocolate, roughly chopped
75 gms cream
For the Cake :
- Start by preheating the oven to 180 C. Grease a bundt baking tin and dust it all over with some flour. If you’re using a regular tin, grease the tin and line the base with baking paper.
- In a bowl, measure in the butter, oil, caster and brown sugar. Using an electric beater, beat the mixture until it turns pale and combined.
- Add the eggs, one by one, beating lightly after each addition.
- Add the vanilla and the mashed bananas.
- Add the milk and the vinegar.
- Sift in the flour and baking soda. Mix only till the batter comes together.
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin.
- Bake in the preheated oven at 180 C for about 60 -70 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
Frosting:
- While the cake bakes, you can make the frosting.
- For the milk chocolate ganache: In a microwave-safe bowl, mix the cream and the chopped milk chocolate. Put in the microwave, first for 30 seconds, stir and put back in the microwave for 20 seconds. Take the mixture out and stir till the chocolate is completely melted. Leave aside to cool.
- For the peanut butter ganache: In a microwave-safe bowl, mix the cream and the chopped white chocolate. Put in the microwave, first for 30 seconds, stir and put back in the microwave for 20 seconds. Take the mixture out and stir till the chocolate is completely melted. Add the peanut butter and stir until the mixture is well combined. Leave aside to cool.
To assemble the cake :
- Make sure the cake, chocolate ganache and peanut butter ganache are all completely cool.
- Turn the cake onto a serving board. Spoon the milk chocolate ganache gently over the cake. Let the ganache drip on to the sides. Then, spoon the peanut butter ganache all over the milk chocolate and sides of the cake.
- Using a skewer create swirls in the ganache.
- Refrigerate the cake until serving.
