Banana Chocolate Chip Layer Cake

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If you like the sound of a soft and moist banana cake layered with rich chocolate cream cheese frosting, then you’ll love this Banana Chocolate Chip Cake! It’s such an easy dessert that never fails to hit the spot.

Moist Banana Chocolate Chip Cake

This recipe makes a supremely decadent cake with minimal effort! It’s like a loaf of chocolate chip banana bread in layer cake form, but better. This cake is very light and tender! There are chocolate chips in the cake and cocoa powder in the cream cheese frosting. Chocolate lovers, you’re in for a treat!

If you have a bunch of old and sad bananas lying around, this is a fool-proof way to turn them into something spectacular. You’ll be mashing them up, so they’re supposed to be speckled brown and overripe, but not totally mushy. There are 4 to 5 bananas packed into this bad boy, and they make the cake so incredibly soft and moist.

Recipe Ingredients

This chocolate chip cake turns basic ingredients into an extraordinary banana treat! And the frosting is so simple, yet rich, creamy and chocolatey.

For the Banana Chocolate Chip Cake

• All-Purpose Flour:
• Baking Powder: You’ll need mostly baking powder, plus a little baking soda for this cake.
• Baking Soda: The combination gives the best textured cake.
• Ground Cinnamon: Add some warmth and depth of flavor to your cake with a little cinnamon!
• Salt: For flavor.
• Unsalted Butter: Bring the butter to room temperature.
• Vegetable Oil:
• Light Brown Sugar:.
• Granulated White Sugar:
• Vanilla Extract: For flavor!
• Eggs: You’ll need 3 large eggs for this recipe, plus the white of an additional large egg.
• Overripe Bananas: About 4 to 5, mashed. Be sure your bananas are spotted brown and not totally brown and mushy. If you mash them and they nearly disintegrate, they are way too overripe.
• Chocolate Chips: I use semi-sweet.

For the Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

• Cream Cheese: Bring to room temperature.
• Butter: Room temperature.
• Powdered Sugar: Not just for sweetness, but also volume and consistency.
• Cocoa Powder: Use natural, unsweetened cocoa powder.
• Vanilla Extract

How to Make Banana Cake with Chocolate Chips

For such a decadent and delicious cake, it’s really not hard to make.

1. Heat Oven: Preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C) and prepare three 8-inch cake pans with parchment paper in the bottom and baking spray on the sides.
2. Combine Dry Ingredients: Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
3. Beat Butter, Sugars, Oil & Vanilla: Add the butter, sugars, oil and vanilla extract to a large mixer bowl and beat together until light in color and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Do not skimp on the creaming time.
4. Add Eggs: Now it’s time to add the eggs. Add the eggs and egg white one at a time, mixing until mostly combined after each. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated.
5. Start Adding Dry Ingredients: Add half of the dry ingredients to the batter and mix until mostly combined.
6. Add Bananas: Add the mashed bananas and mix until well combined.
7. Finish Adding Dry Ingredients: Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix until well combined and smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed to be sure all ingredients are well incorporated. Do not over mix the batter.
8. Add Chocolate Chips: Gently stir in the chocolate chips.
9. Bake: Divide the batter evenly between the three cake pans and bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
10. Let Cool: Remove your cakes from the oven and allow them to cool for 2-3 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

How to Make the Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

This fudgy cream cheese frosting is a 5-ingredient, 5-minute masterpiece! And it tastes incredible between the layers of chocolate chip banana cake.

1. Beat Butter & Cream Cheese: Add the cream cheese and butter to a large mixer bowl and beat until well combined.
2. Add Cocoa Powder & Half of Sugar: Slowly add about half of the powdered sugar and the cocoa powder and beat until smooth.
3. Add Vanilla: Add the vanilla extract and beat until smooth.
4. Finish Adding Powdered Sugar: Add the remaining powdered sugar and beat until smooth.

How to Build the Cake

Last step – putting it all together. This is the fun part!

1. Assemble Layers: Spread about a quarter of the frosting over the first 8-inch cake, place the second cake on top and repeat until all the layers have been used.
2. Frost: Cover the assembled cake with the remaining frosting.
3. Serve: Slice, serve and enjoy!

Tips for the Best Banana Chocolate Chip Cake

These tips and hints are here to help you make the best banana layer cake of all time.

• Use Overripe Bananas: Use bananas that are spotty brown. They can be plenty spotty. But if they’ve started to get totally brown, they may be too overripe. If they get nearly disintegrate when you mash them, they are probably not good to use anymore.
• Cream Butter & Sugar Well: Cream your butter, sugar, oil and vanilla for the full 2-3 minutes, or until the mixture becomes lighter in both texture and color. This adds air to the cake batter that is needed to help it rise and be nice and fluffy.
• Don’t Overmix Batter: Overmixing the batter could result in a denser-than-desired cake, so be sure to stop as soon as the ingredients are incorporated.

How to Store Homemade Cake

This cake is best stored in the fridge, due to the cream cheese frosting. But you can enjoy your cake cold or bring it to room temperature before eating. I personally prefer a room temperature cake. It’s more tender that way.

Can I Freeze this Cake?

If you keep this cake well covered, you can freeze the layer for up to 2 months. Before you plan to serve it, thaw it out overnight in the refrigerator. Then the decorate it to your liking.

More Great Ways to Use Overripe Bananas

Moist and Chewy Banana Oatmeal Cookies
Best Easy Banana Bread
Overnight Baked Banana French Toast Casserole
Banana Pudding Cheesecake

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