Chocolate Muscovado Banana Cake

Breakfast pastries are essentially pie, scones might as well be cookies, and—let’s face it—banana bread is really just cake. At least this breakfast cake has a whole lot of banana in it.

Cookbook author and Observer columnist Nigel Slater shows us that to make the best cake, we need to treat it as such. Unlike most banana bread recipes that call for simply stirring in oil or melted butter, his tells us to cream butter and sugar to give it loft and a sturdy, crunchy crust. He also uses muscovado (or dark brown sugar) to twist a pleasant, standard sweetness into a deep caramel thrum, which, rather than obscuring the banana flavor, gets it all riled up (think bananas Foster). With all that banana and moist, molasses-rich sugar, the cake is even better on days two and three.

I stand by the assertion that this is no less healthy, and no less breakfast, than any other banana bread. Think of this as the treat you bring to the office, on road trips, or for holiday brunch—or, if you’re like me, as a sensible alternative to the Danish at the coffee shop.

Makes 1 loaf cake

2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ cup (125g) butter, softened

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon (235g) muscovado sugar

14 ounces (400g) ripe bananas (peeled weight), about 3 medium bananas

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs

3½ ounces (100g) dark chocolate

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). You will need a nonstick loaf pan approximately 9½ by 5 by 3 inches (24 by 12 by 8cm) deep, lined with parchment paper. Sift the flour and baking powder together.

2. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together till light, fluffy, and pale coffee colored. 

3. Put the bananas in a bowl and mash them with a fork. The mixture should be lumpy rather than crushed to a puree. Stir in the vanilla. Beat the eggs lightly with a fork, then beat them into the butter and sugar mixture. Introduce a spoonful of the measured flour at any sign of curdling. Chop the chocolate into small pieces—about the size of fine gravel—and fold them and the bananas into the butter and sugar mixture. Gently fold in the flour and baking powder.

4. Scrape the mixture into the lined loaf pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a metal skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out moist but clean. If there is any sign of wet cake batter, return the cake to the oven for a few more minutes, covering the surface with foil. Leave the cake in its pan to settle for 15 minutes or so, then loosen the sides with a thin spatula and carefully lift out of the pan with the parchment paper liner. Leave to cool a little longer, then carefully peel off the paper. Serve cool, in thick slices.

GENIUS TIP

If you’re coming up shy on the banana, you can scrape the insides of the peels for a bit more matter. It might look a little stringy, but break it up enough and it’s as good as any banana, melting softly into the crumb.