Almond Banana Chocolate (ABC) Cake

ABC... Easy as 1 2 3, simple as do re mi, A B C, 1 2 3 baby you and me girl!

Life is always better with chocolate. Life is even better with chocolate in the form of cake. Guilt free cake. Cake that is even healthy for you! Cake that doesn't make you break out if you're sensitive to sugar. Cake that you can eat for breakfast or lunch or midnight snack. Almond banana chocolate cake.

I don't know whether it's because I haven't eaten any sweet food in a while, but this cake really hits the spot. This delicious cake was made for my mum's birthday. I swear I was going to eat just one piece. Nek minnit... Ended up waking up in the middle of night three nights in a row chowing down this cake. Yes I still have self control not to eat the whole cake so it lasted a few days. And what surprised me was the taste of the cake matured over time. On the first night it was actually a bit too dry and you can't really taste any other flavours but chocolate. But second night, the cake miraculously became super moist and you can really get the banana and almond coming through the chocolate with the underlying tone of spices. One thing to add to it if i make this again though is fresh raspberries in the cake itself.

Almond Banana Chocolate (ABC) Cake

Recipe adapted from Green Kitchen Stories

Cake

200 g wholewheat flour

25g unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup of desiccated coconut

2 eggs

80 ml olive oil

120 ml honey 

2 ripe bananas, mashed

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Butter a cake tin, then dust with cocoa powder. 
2. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Fold in the desiccated coconut. Set aside. 
3. Beat the eggs until nice and fluffy, then stream in the oil and beat until thick. Add in honey and beat until well combined. Mix in the bananas and mix until just combined. 
4. Add the flour mixture to the wet mix in three batches and mix until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin. 
5. Bake for approximately half an hour (though check whether your cake is done as all ovens are different. The original recipe called for a 45 minute bake.)
6. Remove cake from oven. Let it cool in the tin for ten minutes, then turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

Ganache

80g dark chocolate

4 tbsp cream

1 tsp vanilla essence

Desiccated coconut

Freeze-dried raspberry

1. Finely chop the dark chocolate and transfer to a clean bowl. 
2. Gently heat up the cream until it's just under boiling. Pour over the dark chocolate. Add in the vanilla essence and stir until chocolate has melted and is completely smooth. 
3. Pour over the cake once it has cooled slightly (so it has thickened up but is still pourable). 
4. Decorate with desiccated coconut and freeze-dried raspberry.