Baking.... and dieting - Banana and Chocolate Cake Recipe

That is the theme of today.
I decided I need to lose some weight and eat a more balanced diet. As I am not prepared to give up on all sweet foods and I don’t think this is actually necessary, a new rule was created: “only sweet foods made at home can be consumed”.... what a wonderful new way of dieting!

And that called for a banana and chocolate cake.... only one egg and using dark chocolate. Ok, it does contain sugar and a fair amount of calories, considering banana is quite high in calories, sugar and fat, but it is still much better than eating a cake from a factory, with hardly any fruit, full of refined sugar and vegetable fat.... plus my home made cake comes with the smell of baking and the pleasure of cooking.

Being forced to cook anything in order to eat it limits also how much cake I will eat. For more that I enjoy baking, I work full time and my job does not involve being in a kitchen, so I don’t have time to cook a lot of cakes or sweets during the week.

The cake was simply delicious, especially soon after baking, when it was still warm.
The recipe is based on David Lebovitz’s Banana-Chocolate Chip Upside Down Cake with few changes by myself.
So, here it is my Banana and Chocolate Cake:
For the topping:

60 g muscovado sugar
2 tablespoons water
3 ripe bananas
For the cake:
210 g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
150 g caster sugar
30 g melted butter, unsalted
1 medium egg
250 g banana puree (about 3 bananas)
120 g Greek yoghurt (0% fat)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
80 g dark chocolate, broken into small pieces

1. To make the topping, place the brown sugar and water in sauce pan. Warm over low heat, stirring until the sugar is thoroughly moistened. Simmer the mixture for about 45 seconds. Let cool to room temperature. Transfer the sugar sauce to the baking pan.
2. Peel and slice the bananas in 1 cm slices. Arrange them in rows over the sugar sauce.
3. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
4. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl, making sure there are no lumps. Mix in the caster sugar.
5. In a small bowl, mix together the butter, egg, banana puree, yoghurt, and vanilla.
6. Add the wet mix to the dry ingredients, stirring until almost combined. Do not overmix. Gently fold in the chocolate pieces.
7. Transfer the batter into the pan over the bananas, and then use a spatula to carefully spread the batter over the sliced fruit.
8. Bake for 40 minutes, or until the cake feels just set in the center when you touch it.
9. Cool the cake for about 20 minutes, then run a knife along the edges of the cake to help it release from the pan. Invert the cake onto a serving platter.
The cake is best served warm.

If you decide to make it, I hope you will enjoy it as much as we did!

It is missing a picture here of course! I meant to do it, but when I saw most of the cake had been eaten already. I promise to take a picture when I next bake it.