Chocolate and Banana Cake

Chocolate and Banana Cake

100ml/3 ½ fl oz sunflower oil

175g/6oz caster sugar

175g/6oz self-raising flour

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

4 tbs cocoa powder

100g/4oz chocolate chips or chunks

175g/6oz very ripe banana

3 medium eggs, 2 separated

50ml/2fl oz milk

Topping (optional)

100g/4oz milk chocolate

100ml/3 ½ fl oz soured cream

Handful dried banana chips, roughly chopped

1 heat oven to 160c/140c fan/gas 3. Grease and line a 900g loaf tin with baking parchment (allow it to come 2cm above top of the tin). Mix flour, sugar, bicarb, cocoa and chocolate chips in a large bowl.

2 Mash the banana in a bowl and stir in the whole egg plus 2 yolks, followed by the oil and milk. Beat te egg whites until stiff. Quickly stir the wet banana mixture into the dry ingredients, stir in quarter of the egg whites to loosen the mixture, and then gently fold the rest. Gently scrape into the tin and bake for 1 hr 10 -15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

3 Cool in the tin on a wire rack. To make the icing, melt the chocolate and soured cream together in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Chill in the fridge until spreadable. Remove cake from tin, roughly swirl icing over and scatter with banana chips

Recipe from Good Food magazine, August 2011