Double Chocolate Wholegrain Banana Cake


The cacophony of Bablers drive  away Cuckoo from the Jamun tree. He glides gracefully and settles in a branch of Magnolia tree. 




 Fresh green and tenders leaves have sprouted in the branches after leaf shedding. 
There are butterfly and moth caterpillars in the leaves, camouflaged beautifully, often difficult to spot, cradled by the gentle breeze, devouring   juicy leaves and  changing colour and size  almost every day as they pass from one phase to another. My son curiously counts the caterpillars in the curry leaf plant. Young ones resemble bird droppings while the older ones are perfectly merging with the leaves.


A praying mantis hangs upside down from the magnolia leaves keeping an eye on the small insects and flies, lunging at it’s prey immaculately. We spot two more caterpillars in magnolia leaves. A complete ecosystem is thriving here.


Some overripe bananas in the counter give out lovely smell. I decide to bake Chocolate Banana Cake. Bananas add great flavour and give a tender crumb to the cake.


 The cake tastes best next day. Dense, moist, flavourful and deliciously healthy.


Double Chocolate Wholegrain  Banana Cake
Ingredients
1 ¼ cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup cocoa powder
½ cup melted butter
3 medium size ripe bananas
¾ cup brown sugar ( or white sugar)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup semisweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate chunks
Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Line the bottom,   grease and dust the sides of one 7x7 inch cake pan.
Whisk together first four ingredients. Pass through a sieve to remove lumps.
Puree the bananas. Whisk in melted butter, sugar, egg and vanilla extract.
Add dry ingredients and stir until just combined. If the batter feels too thick or dry, add a tablespoon or two of milk. Fold in ¼ cup chocolate chips.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle remaining chocolate chips.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or till a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Invert it out onto a cooling rack.
Slice when cold.


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7 comments:

  1. Your cakes always make me want to bake one straight away and break out the good cups Namita :). This one is speaking to me in all of the right ways. I love that your little ecosystem is so very pretty. Cuckoos have red eyes? I am guessing that's the male? Those caterpillars are lovely and they camouflage really well. Are you aware of the new vegan hype around chick pea cooking water? Someone in France, discovered that if you take the water from a can of chickpeas and you reduce it down a bit so that it is nice and thick and viscous and then you whip it, like egg whites, it acts exactly the same way as they do. You can add sugar to it and it stiffens and is just like egg white meringue! I follow a Facebook page all about it and some of the incredible recipes that are coming out is amazing but one of the most interesting things (I am not a great fan of meringue ;) ) is that you can take that chickpea liquid (it can also be from the cooking water from dried chickpeas or other legumes, so long as it is quite starchy and thick-ish) and use it in cakes as an egg substitute and it replicates what eggs do as it has protein and the egg white consistency and vegan cakes have never been so light and fluffy. I am going to have a go at making this cake with some of it :)

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  2. This cake just looks so amazing! I love banana bakes, but never tried them with chocolate.. bookmarking this one!

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    1. Thank you Rafeeda. Hope you enjoy baking and eating this one!

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  3. Tried this recipe today and it turned out super moist and yummy.

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    1. Hello Lina, I am so happy that that cake came out well. Hope you bake many more and enjoy them :)

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  4. I just simply love how simple it sounds to make this cake! Have to try this one next weekend :)

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  5. Thanks for trying the recipe Binu. Wheat and Barley seems to be a great combination.

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