Coffee, chocolate banana bundt cake with cream cheese frosting

Have you ever tried a cake with three flavours? I love coffee flavour, my kids love chocolate flavour, and my husband loves banana cake. If you are also in a situation just like me, can’t decide whether to make chocolate, coffee, or banana cake. Why not combine these three flavours to make a marble cake.

This cake is incredibly rich and buttery. A marble cake may look complicated, but it is one batter that is divided and then melted chocolate and coffee is added to one portion. And the mashed banana is added to another portion. The marbling effect is created by placing the banana batter and chocolate coffee batters alternately in a bundt pan, and then running a skewer through the two batters to give it a marble effect.

If you just want a banana flavour cake, then omit the chocolate and coffee ingredients from the recipe or vice versa. It’s a very flexible recipe. I usually serve this cake plain. Today, I drizzled the cream cheese frosting over the top which took the whole cake to the next level. Since one of the batters is banana flavour. To make the cake even more fancy to serve as a birthday cake to my daughter, so sprinkled some of Malaysia famous banana chips on top of the frosting. If you don’t like the frosting, you can skip it.

What can I substitute for buttermilk?

This cake's exceptionally moist and soft crumb comes from the use of buttermilk. Buttermilk has a rich, tangy, and buttery flavour along with a thick, creamy texture. You can use yoghurt or sour cream as a substitute if buttermilk is not available. You can use one cup (24 ml) of milk and one tablespoon of lemon juice or white vinegar in place of the buttermilk. Before using, let the mixture sit at room temperature for about ten minutes. 

What type of chocolate to use?

There are many different types of chocolate that can be used to bake this marble cake. Dark chocolate, semi-sweet, bittersweet, or milk chocolate.  I normally will choose dark chocolate for my cake. But my dark chocolate left not much, so I mixed it with some semi-sweet chocolate chips. You may stick with milk chocolate for your liking.  And you are free to adjust the amount of sugar in the recipe.

 

INGREDIENTS

100 grams dark chocolate, chopped

40g chocolate chips

1 tablespoon brewed coffee (optional)*

( mixed 1 tsp of instant coffee powder with a tbsp of hot water )

3 large overripe bananas, about 250g

295 grams all-purpose flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

170 grams unsalted butter, room temperature

200 grams) granulated white sugar

3 large eggs, room temperature

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

200ml milk, room temperature

2 tsp  vinegar

100g cream cheese, room temperature

1 tbsp icing powder

100ml heavy cream

50ml milk

Some bananas chips

                                            

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 180 °c. Butter a 10-inch (25 cm) bundt pan with butter, use a spoonful of flour and dust inside the pan.  and tap the cake tin until you can see a light coat of flour covering the whole inside.

2. Adding 2 tea spoon of white vinegar or lemon juice to  the milk and letting this mixture sit at room temperature for about 10 minutes before using.

3. In a heatproof bowl, placed over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate with the coffee. Take off  from heat and let it cool to room temperature.

4. In a separate bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

5. Mash the overripe bananas in a bowl until fine, set aside.

6. In the cake mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter until smooth. Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy (about 3-5 minutes). Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add in eggs one at a time and beat until well combine.

7. With the mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and the buttermilk to the batter, in three additions, beginning and ending with the flour. Remove a little more than half of the batter into a separate bowl.  Add the mashed bananas into the batter. Gently stir well with the hand mixer, or a spatula to combine well.

8. To the remaining batter,  stir in the melted chocolate. Place the batters into the prepared bundt pan by alternating spoonful of banana batter with the chocolate batter. Next, gently make some swirls with the end of a wooden skewer or knife to marbleize the batter.

with the end of a wooden skewer or knife, gently draw swirls through the batter to marbleize it. Don't over mix.

9. Bake for about 35 - 40 minutes , or until a toothpick inserted in the center just comes out clean. Take the cake out of the oven and let it rest on a wire rack for approximately 20 minutes, then take it out of the pan and let it cool fully. 

10. Whisk the cream cheese with hand whisk or spatula until smooth, add in the heavy cream, milk, and icing powder. Mix it well until you reach the consistency to drizzle on top of the cake. If the cream cheese frosting is too thick, add a little milk, stir until you reach consistency.   

11. Decorate with some banana chips on top of the frosting. Store in the refrigerator or serve right away.