Banana bread and coffee liqueur inspires a fudgy, choco-chip lava cake dessert.

Cakes and Breads / March 25, 2014

Chocolate: Noun, adjective, hero, even panacea. There are few words that inspire, comfort, or sate us more fully. You can add amazing to this list because chocolate turned a simple banana loaf into magic, and helped me create an iconic dessert that simply transforms your spirit as you lift it to you mouth.

Let me describe it this way; it’s fudgy and dense, with a hint of fresh banana, and even complex with the addition of the coffee liqueur. It is friendly like a chocolate chip cookie. And finally, in a wonderful breezy way, it is healthy and satisfying!

I started with my own banana bread recipe, leaving out the cinnamon and allspice, cutting back on the flour by 3/4 C, adding 1/8 C cocoa powder, 1/8 C coffee liqueur like Kahlua, and by cooking it only 40 minutes, an erroneously short time since I added extra liquid and maybe not enough flour, ended up with something I know I can serve to any family member, guest or even sworn enemy and they will be my friend for LIFE.

Chocolate. It’s fun to write, too! Dark, earthen, immortal. Try my Banana Bread Inspired Choco-Chip Kahlua Lava Cake as soon as you can!

SPECIAL NOTES: Here’s the mistake that made the bread/cake/whatever…so amazing. I probably should have cooked it about 10 minutes longer, because the center was not quite done, even though it looked it. I’m guessing that the extra liquid along with me being shy on the flour ‘cause it looked like it was thick enough, was what led to this discovery. What happened is the very center, about 2 inches of it, was like a lava cake. Which is code for, “not done.” But in my world, I like to embrace boo-boos so I chose to act like this was on purpose. And if you let it cool about 40 minutes, and serve warm, it’s divine. If you let it cool completely, then the center is more pudding like. When it cools all the way it becomes that wonderful, dense but bread-like structure of the familiar banana bread, which holds up nicely to any serrated knife and two hands for noshing with coffee or tea, or cold milk! Dang it if this wasn’t a happy accident. I might suggest you try it in muffin tins and cook for only about 25 minutes, and then you have little mini handfuls of joy!

(See the photos below. This dessert can live two lives; a dense bread like coffee snack in the afternoon, or covered with caramel and powdered sugar, as shown above, to take any mundane meal to memorable in just one bite.)

Choco-Chip Banana Lava Cake

Prep time – 10
Cook time – 40 minutes

Ingredients:

2 large ripe bananas (the size has
a bearing on the amount of flour.
My bananas were more medium sized.)
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 C shortening
1 C granulated sugar
1.5 t vanilla extract
1/8 C Kahlua or other brand coffee liqueur
1/8 C unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 C all-purpose flour
1 t soda
1/2 t salt
1/3 C or so of mini semi-sweet
chocolate chips

Direction:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix bananas, eggs, sugar, shortening, vanilla, coffee liqueur, with electric hand mixer until creamed. Add cocoa powder and part of the flour along with the salt and soda. Beat again to blend. Add the rest of the flour. Batter will be lumpy. Pour into full size loaf pan, well-buttered and floured. Put in center rack of oven and bake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool, slice and serve.
NOTES: Here’s the mistake that made the bread/cake/whatever…so amazing. I probably should have cooked it about 10 minutes longer, because the center was not quite done, even though it looked it. I’m guessing that the extra liquid along with me being shy on the flour ‘cause it looked like it was thick enough, was what led to this discovery. What happened is the very center, about 2 inches of it, was like a lava cake. Which is code for, “not done.” But in my world, I like to embrace boo-boos so I chose to act like this was on purpose. And if you let it cool about 40 minutes, and serve warm, it’s divine. If you let it cool completely, then the center is more pudding like. When it does cool all the way it becomes that wonderful, dense but bread-like structure of the familiar banana bread, which holds up nicely to any serrated knife and two hands for noshing with coffee or tea, or cold milk! Dang it if this wasn’t a happy accident. I might suggest you try it in muffin tins and cook for only about 25 minutes, and then you have little mini handfuls of joy!