Saturday, February 25, 2012

Choco-Nana Cake

It's was a Thursday.  My "stay-at-home-all-day" day of the week.  The wind was blowing to beat the band outside.  (I have no idea what that means.  It's a phrase from my childhood.  I think.)  And I wanted to bake.  But I didn't want to go to the store because since it was my "stay-at-home-all-day" day I was not looking so store worthy.  I perused my kitchen for some inspiration from the ingredients on hand and spied these bananas that were on the edge. 
They said, "Eat me now or I am a goner."  There was my inspiration.  Something with bananas. Continuing my search I ran across a recipe that I had dog-eared in an older recipe book but had never prepared.  Perfect.  I had all the ingredients.  It was a quick mix and bake type of recipe.  And it needed bananas!

 
Besides a large banana, you will need a half of a devil's food cake mix, vegetable oil, chocolate chips (mini or regular), egg, water. Walnuts are optional except in our house where someone doesn't like to eat things with nuts in them.

All of the remaining ingredients, minus 1/4 cup of chocolate chips, are mixed together right in an 8-inch square baking dish. Hey, one less dirty dish to clean!

Once the ingredients are well mixed together and spread evenly in the pan.....
sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of chocolate chips on top of the batter. 
The cake is baked at 350˚ for 30-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. 
I may have been a bit anxious to get this out of the oven this time around as it was a bit gooey when I tried to slice it.  Or else maybe I didn't let it cool enough.  It is a very moist cake with a great chocolaty banana flavor.  I like that it makes a smaller cake for smaller families or for those times when you really don't want leftover chocolate cake sitting on the counter tempting you to eat it for breakfast.  

Another perk of the recipe is that you will have half of a box of chocolate cake mix left to mix this up again when you have a "stay-at-home-all-day" day.  Next time I may try it with peanut butter chips rather than the chocolate.  Ooooo!  Just thinking about that may make the next time come sooner than later! 

Mix-in-Pan
Choco-Nana Cake

1 3/4 cups devil's food cake mix
3/4 cup miniature or regular chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, if desired
2/3 cup water
1/2 cup (1 large) mashed banana
2 T. vegetable oil
1 egg, slightly beaten

Heat oven to 350º.  In ungreased 8-inch square cake pan, combine all ingredients except 1/4 cup of the chocolate chips.  Beat with fork until well blended.  Spread batter evenly in pan.  Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips.  Bake at 350º for 30-40 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool. 9 servings 

No comments:

Post a Comment