Roasted Chocolate Banana Cake

There's not too much to say about this cake except that if you like bananas and you like chocolate then you should try this out.  I had never thought much about roasting bananas beyond a campfire banana boat (i.e., bananas slit open stuffed with chocolate chips and marshmallows, wrapped up in foil, and dropped in a campfire) until Scott mentioned how America's Test Kitchen had a recent episode about banana pudding made with roasted bananas.  I've been making this cake for a number of years, and it seemed like the perfect candidate for a roasted banana intervention.  It only took one try, and I'm completely hooked...

Notes:
You don't have to wait for the bananas to be all brown and speckled for this recipe.  Try and get the bananas out of the skin after they are roasted so you don't lose the banana juices.  You can roast the bananas and mash them up the day before you use them; just keep in mind that the top layer of banana will turn brown, although it will still be fine to use in the cake.  I like to leave the bananas a bit lumpy so you can see some flecks of banana in the finished cake.  Use regular sour cream (i.e., not reduced fat) to make this.  If your cocoa powder is lumpy, you may find it helpful to sift it after you've measured it.  When I add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients for this recipe, I like to stir it a few times with the spatula because the flour mixture has a tendency puff up in your face when you turn on the mixer.  I always line my loaf pans with a large piece of parchment paper so it is easy to lift the cake out of the pan.  You can make this in two loaf pans or one Bundt pan. 

Adapted from Chocolate: From Simple Cookies to Extravagant Showstoppers and America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients:
4 bananas (~1½ cups)
8 ounces sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
¾ cups cocoa powder
¾ teaspoon salt
1½ teaspoons baking soda
1½ sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
1½ cups granulated sugar
3 eggs

Yields 2 loaves or 1 Bundt cake

Roast!
Adjust the oven rack to the middle level of the oven and preheat to 325°F.  Remove any stickers from the bananas, rinse them off, and then pat them dry.  Place the bananas on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes until the skins are completely black.  Remove the pan from the oven, and as soon as the bananas are cool enough for you to handle them, slit them with a sharp knife, and transfer the roasted flesh and juices to a mixing bowl.  Discard the peels.  Stir the bananas to mash them up, and then pop them in the fridge or freezer to cool them a bit before you use them in the batter.

Whisk, Cream, Bake:
After the bananas have cooled, butter two loaf pans, line them with parchment paper, leaving some overhang on the longer sides of the pans, and then lightly flour the pans and set them aside.  Adjust the oven rack to the middle level of the oven and preheat to 350°F.  Add the sour cream and vanilla to the cooled bananas, and set the mixture aside.  In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda together and set aside.  In a separate bowl, cream the butter with the sugar until it is light and fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating until each egg is fully incorporated.  Scrape the beaters well, add half of the flour mixture, stir it a few times, and then beat until no more flour streaks remain.  Scrape the beaters again, then add all of the banana mixture and beat until it is incorporated.  Scrape the beaters again, add the remaining flour mixture, stir it a few times, and then beat until no more flour streaks remain.  Divide the mixture into both loaf pans and bake at 350°F for about 45-55 minutes, until the loaves are set in the middle and a toothpick inserted into the center of each loaf comes out clean.

Allow the cake to rest in the pan for 5-10 minutes, and then use the parchment paper overhang to lift the cake out of the pan. Allow the cake to fully cool on a rack.  I like to carefully remove the parchment paper with the help on an additional rack so I can easily flip the loaves over.  Store the cooled cake at room temperature in an airtight container or wrapped in plastic.  You may also freeze the cake.

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