Chocolate and Banana Cakes

I made these cakes for my sons celebration. You can make one big cake, but i decided to make individual cakes for everyone.

They were very moist and chocolaty.

You can get the cake cases i used from Sainsbury's supermarket.

You can top the cakes with anything you like, this time i used chocolate and vanilla marshmallows.


















Pre heat oven to 140c, 280f, gas mark 2

Makes 16 cakes.

100ml sunflower oil
175g caster sugar
175g self raising flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
4 tbsp cocoa powder
100g of chocolate chips or chunks
2 very ripe bananas
3 medium eggs 2 of them separated
50ml full fat milk


Sift the sugar, flour, bicarbonate of soda and cocoa powder into a bowl, stir in the chocolate chips or chunks.

In another bowl mash the bananas, stir in one whole egg and 2 egg yolks, followed by the oil and milk.

Whisk the egg whites until they are stiff.

Stir the wet and dry ingredients together then stir in ¼ of the egg whites to loosen the mixture, then gently fold in the rest of the egg white.

Fill the cases halfway up, and bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Let the cakes cool then spread over the ganache. Recipe follows.


Ganache Recipe.

100g milk chocolate
100ml sour cream

Melt the chocolate and sour cream together in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, don't let the bowl touch the water.
Put in the fridge till its cold and spreadable.

Banana, Cinnamon & Chocolate Muffins....

I was making a batch of Banana, Cinnamon and Chocolate Muffins. I had made some snazzy cases from parchment paper and spooned the mixture in them all, that was time consuming.
I'd put them in the oven, then noticed the bowl of mashed banana still sat on the side!!!
I did wonder why the mixture was too stiff, luckily they had only been in oven for 10 seconds so I managed to save them.

Needless to say I'd had enough of making the cases, so reverted back to the normal shop bought ones.

They may not have looked so pretty, but they still tasted GREAT!!!

They were moist and light and fluffy too....

Pre heat oven 180c, 360f, gas mark 5

Makes about 12 muffins

2 large eggs beaten
125ml vegetable oil
200g light brown soft sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 ripe bananas mashed
250g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
50g walnuts toasted and roughly chopped
50g dark chocolate roughly chopped ( i use lindt 70% chocolate)


In a bowl mix the eggs, oil, sugar and vanilla extract, then stir in the bananas.

In another bowl sieve the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, salt and cinnamon.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir in till just mixed, don't over mix or your muffins will be heavy and tough.

Gently stir in the  nuts and chocolate.

Spoon mixture into paper cases in a muffin tin, about ¾ of the way up.

Bake for 20/25 minutes, till a cocktail stick or skewer comes out clean.

Best served warm.

They freeze well, just revive them in the oven for about 4 minutes.

You can use other nuts like pecans or hazelnuts, and add raisins if you like.

Fudgy Chocolate Coconut Brownies!!

 This one is for all you sweet toothed and chocolate lovers out there!! 

These are so easy to make and taste sooooo chocolaty, they are dense and have a slight gooey, chewy, rich centre. 

It's hard to eat just one at a time!!

Mixture makes about 16 Brownies.

10 minutes prep time.

40 minutes cooking time.

100g / 4oz Cocoa Powder - I use Green and Black Organic, it is rich and chocolaty.

250g / 9oz Butter
500g / 1lb 2oz Golden Caster Sugar

4 Eggs beaten

100g / 4oz Dessicated Coconut

100g / 4oz Self Raising Flour

Pre-heat the oven to 160°C, 320°F, or gas mark 4.

Line a 21cm square tin with parchment paper.



In a large saucepan gently melt the butter and sugar with the cocoa powder, stirring all the time so the mixture doesn't catch.

Take the saucepan off the heat and let it cool slightly.

When slightly cooled, quickly stir in the beaten eggs a bit at a time until it's all combined and shiny.

Stir in the dessicated coconut and then the flour, don't over mix or the brownies will become tough.

Pour into the tin and bake in the oven for 40 minutes, check it after 30 minutes and cover if it's starting to brown too much around the edges. It is cooked when a cocktail stick comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin, then turn out and cut into squares.

Enjoy one with a nice cup of espresso, the coffee brings out the flavour of the chocolate and visa versa!!