Banana cake with chocolate chips

Before making this recipe I did not take into great consideration banana cakes or breads. I thought of them as "second choice" cakes, made not much for the love of banana cakes as for using some overripe bananas sitting in the kitchen. Maybe because I don't like bananas (probably I didn't eat even as a child) or because most of the banana cakes I've tried had walnuts inside (and I have a sort of allergy to walnuts); or maybe the strange color that bananas give to the cake or... I don't know exactly, but I had never considered to make a banana cake before. But I have a two years old son who has a strange relation with bananas: there are days when I have to go out and buy bananas because he sees another kid eating a banana on the beach and wants one too; but there are also other days - usually when I have plenty of bananas in the kitchen- in which he looks at bananas as they were the last food in the world he would eat. And so the poor bananas, after becoming more and more yellow, finally turn brown and seem to say: "please decide what to do with us". If there is just one too ripe banana, I can throw it, but if they are more I think it's a shame. And just too many overripe bananas are the origin of this cake which made me change idea about banana cakes. Because it is delicious, much more than I ever expected.

When I decided to make the cake I did not have a recipe to follow (not difficult to understand why), so I searched the web but I could not find the inspiration. After reading dozens recipe unsuccessfully I just took note of the average ratio banana:flour:egg:sugar and put together a recipe using other ingredients from my pantry: yogurt (I already said here that I always have some yogurt, just in case I need), a little bit of butter, chocolate chips (the combination with banana is a classic) and oat flakes to add some crunchiness. Instead of the classic loaf pan I used a square pan, because a I wanted a cake on the flat side.
I had not the idea of sharing the cake on my blog, considering in particular that it was an unplanned, improvised recipe, never made before: it could have been awful. Since the appearance after baking was nice, I took anyway a couple of pictures before slicing the cake (since I started blogging I take pictures of almost anything I prepare, light permitting). After tasting a small bite...I could not believe it was so good, and took some more pictures in a very improvised set. In addition to this I had also to record properly the recipe, in order to be able to make it again. To make the long story short, I am here to publish the recipe, as an example of successful experiment (how I would like all experiments came out like this!).

Banana cake with chocolate chips

makes a  23x23 cm (9x9 inch)square cake

250 all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

80 g butter, softened, plus 1 tbsp, melted and cooled

150 gr demerara sugar

2 eggs

3 medium very ripe bananas

170 ml Greek yogurt

2 heaped tsp vanilla extract

150 g bittersweet chocolate chips

3-4 tbsp oat flakes (rolled oats)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F) with rack in the middle.  Line with parchment paper a 23 cm (9-inch) square cake pan.

Sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Mash bananas with the back of a fork.

In a small mixing bowl toss together chocolate chips, oat flakes, 3 tablespoons sugar, melted butter (1 tbsp) and cinnamon .

In a medium mixing bowl beat together softened butter (80 g) and the remaining sugar, using a whisk or an electric mixer, until pale. Beat in eggs one at a time until blended. Add mashed bananas, yogurt and vanilla and mix (don't be worried if the mixture will look curdled).

Using a spatula, add the powders and stir until just incorporated.

Spread half of banana batter in the prepared cake pan and sprinkle with half of chocolate mixture.  Spread remaining batter evenly over filling and sprinkle remaining chocolate mixture on top.

Bake until cake is golden and a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 35-40 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let the cake cool completely before cutting.