When Life Gives You Mushy Bananas Make a Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Cake

How often do you buy bananas and eat them all before they go brown? Seriously, what kind of planning does that take? No matter what I do I always end up with stragglers that take on a life of their own.

Many years ago I worked with a gal who actually preferred brown bananas. She would put them in the fridge (which makes them brown faster) and refuse to eat them until they were mushy. I wish she was still in my life. I would just pack up all of my old ones and give them to her.

Instead, I have a whole board on Pinterest of banana recipes. I bake things according to how many bananas I have left. There are two banana recipes, one banana recipes, and three banana recipes. This week I tried a new two banana recipe. I was still feeling guilty about the “WAY past their prime” bananas that I threw away last week and I was determined to come out even this time.

This cake is delicious because: chocolate and peanut butter! And, since there are bananas in it, it is healthy. Ha! If only it worked that way. I would put bananas in everything!

The combination of chocolate and peanut butter is classic and the addition of bananas just compliments that. The bananas add a touch of sweetness without taking over the flavor.

Here is the recipe:

Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Cake

1 ¼ cups flour
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 mushy bananas
¾ cup cooking oil, coconut oil, or melted butter
1 cup brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
½ cup plain yogurt or sour cream
Optional add-ins: ½ cup nuts or chocolate chips

Frosting

½ cup room temp butter (one cube)
8-ounce cream cheese – room temp
½ cup peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
3 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a 9 x 13” pan and line it with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Throw your two mushy bananas into a mixing bowl and mix until they are smooth and lump free.

Add the oil, sugars, eggs, and yogurt and whisk until well-mixed.

Put in your dry ingredients (half at a time) and stir just until mixed. Stir in nuts or chocolate chips if desired.

Spread the batter into your prepared pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes (mine took 26 minutes). The cake should bounce back when lightly pressed and/or the edges pull away from the sides.

The cake is delicious on its own but if you want to be indulgent, add this yummy frosting to the top. Seriously, it is so yummy I could eat it with a spoon.

Frosting: Cream together the softened butter and cream cheese for four minutes on a low speed. Add in the peanut butter, vanilla and salt until combined. Slowly add the powdered sugar in ½ cup at a time until the frosting is the consistency you like. You can add as many as four cups but I like gooey frosting and so I usually add just three cups. Sprinkle nuts or chocolate shavings on top if desired.

Store the cake in the fridge until it’s gone (it won’t take long).

Bananas are not mentioned by name in the Bible but bad or rotten fruit certainly is.

Matthew 7:17 says:

“Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.”

And Exodus 16:19-20 says:

^“And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.” But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them.”

Like bananas, I have sometimes been idle too long and grown mushy in my faith. Once the brown spots appear to me, I realize it’s time to wake up and turn those signs of rotting into something new.

I wake myself up, change up my reading and studying, pray more, and surprisingly a deeper faith shows up time and time again. God is amazing that way. He makes a new creation out of this “mushy banana” time and time again.