Undomesticated Happiness: Goin' Bananas! Banana Chocolate Chip Cake and Banana Buster Brown Cupcakes

Once my friends and I talked about what food you would want to be left with if it was the only thing you would eat for the rest of your life. My friends immediately answered kare-kare (a peanut-based beef stew) or lechon or whatever fancy meal you'd usually find in a buffet.

I simply answered, banana. Yes, the humble banana. I thought about foods I absolutely love like chocolates or cheesecake or rice or yes, lechon (hihi!). But then I thought if it was the only thing I would eat for the rest of my life, I'd probably puke by the third time.

But bananas are different. I could a banana every single meal. I could eat it as my breakfast. Sometimes as lunch. Or dinner. Or when I wake up in the middle of the night hungry (don't ask).

I love bananas so much that I'm unusually giddy when I see big, bright yellow bananas lining up supermarket fruit aisles or street vendor stands. I even have my favorite banana vendor stand close to our house. I'm so weird at bananas that my sister once thought of gifting me with a banana case (like a lunch box but made specifically for one piece of banana). I know, weird.

Today was one of those lovely days when my aunt visited us with a huge bag of bananas - the big, bright yellow ones :-)

First up, the no-fail, always in-demand banana chocolate chip cake. My daughter absolutely loves this cake. I don't bake it like a usual cake in a cake pan but rather on mini-loaves because they're more like sweet, smooth bread for me.

I made these before and the recipe is here.

Sweet banana and chocolate chip goodness!

I love how the chocolate chips melt slightly when the cake is done.

I like mine brown and a little burnt.

Closer...ooops! That's too close!

After making the banana chocolate chip cake and placing the dough in the mini-loaf pan, I made this heavenly cupcakes from Tidymom. I placed both pans in the oven at the same time (save energy, people!)

Banana Buster Brown Cupcakes from Tidymom.net

1 cup (200 grams) granulated white sugar
1 scant cup (123 grams) all-purpose flour
3/8 cup (38 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder (regular or Dutch-processed)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 1 medium sized banana)
1/2 cup (240 ml) warm water
1/4 cup (120 ml) milk
1/4 cup (60 ml) canola or corn oil
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350° and line muffin pan with 12 cupcake liners
Using a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients: sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside
In another large bowl, whisk remaining ingredients until combined: egg, banana, water, milk, oil, vanilla.
Combine wet and dry ingredients and stir until combined.
Scoop batter into cupcake liners 3/4 full.
Bake for 20 minuets or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Remove from oven. Cool completely before frosting.

Tidymom has a frosting combo for this cupcake called Peanut Butter Brown Sugar Buttercream (isn't this just tempting?). But I did not make this because I still have leftover coffee buttercream from 2 days ago (hello, reduce-reuse-recycle!). And I think it would be a good combination for this cupcake. Well, what do you know? It is!