Mr 5 and I had a little fun in the kitchen today with this crazy chocolate banana cake. The crazy part of the cake is that it’s crazy that a cake can be made without eggs, butter and milk and still work.
There is nothing conventional about this recipe, except for the end result – a lovely moist cake that is perfect with chocolate buttercream icing.
This cake has also been referred to as depression cake as it is very cheap to make due to no eggs and dairy.
So if you are looking for a cake to make with the kiddos during the school holidays that is easy to make, fool proof and cheap this is the recipe for you. Also, you bake the cake in the dish you mix it it – less dishes!
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 Cups Self Raising Flour
3 Tbs Cocoa
1 Cup White Sugar (I used 3/4 cup if you want to reduce the sugar)
1 Tsp Bicarbonate Soda
2 Overripe bananas, mashed
1 Tsp White Vinegar
1 Tsp Vanilla Essence
5 Tbs Oil (Light olive oil or sunflower are my recommendations)
1 Cup Water
LETS PUT IT ALL TOGETHER
1. Place the first 4 dry ingredients into the dish you are going to bake the cake in. Make three indents into the dry mix.
2. In one indent pour the vinegar, the other the oil, and in the last the banana flowed by the water and vanilla essence. Using a fork, mix all the ingredients together really well making sure to get everything off the bottom.
3. Place into a preheat 160 degree celcius oven for 55 minutes.
Once baked allow to cool before spreading chocolate buttercream icing on top.
To make Chocolate Buttercream Icing
Simply place 125gm butter, 1 1/2 Cups Icing Sugar, 1/4 Cup Cocoa and 1 Tbs Milk into the bowl of a stand or electric mixer. Beat until light and fluffy.
what is icing sugar?
It is also known as Powered Sugar
How do you get the cake out of the bowl? Does it just come out becasue it’s glass?
Flip onto a cooling rack and then the cake pan will come off, leave to cool before flipping to the right side.
Well sadly that didn’t work, for the effort the cake stuck to the glass dish and was a disaster 🙁
Is white vinegar just normal vinegar?
Yes, just the cheapo vinegar.
How many TBS of butter is 125 gm in the icing?
In Australia we use 20gm Tablespoons – so 6
Could i use apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar? Also, do I flip cake onto cooling rack while it is still hot. Thanks
I haven’t tried it with apple cider vinegar but the vinegar is an important part of the reaction with the bicarbonate soda which makes it rise. Flip on to the cooling rack after it has cooled for 5 mins in the pan.
hi, just wondering if the vanilla goes in with the other wet ingredients? Thanks 🙂
Hi, yes add it with the water.
Hi there
Just wondering is there a difference between icing sugar and icing mixture??
Thankfully, it’s easy to explain the difference between the two icing sugars on the market. Icing sugar mixture, also known as confectioners’ sugar or powdered sugar, is pulverised granulated sugar crushed together with a small amount (about three percent) of cornflour.Mar 28, 2007
sorry it appears the full explaination i googled for your question Gemma did not load. when i searched the internet a really good explanation was the first search return.
Thanks heather I’ll check it out!
Is that one and a half cups of flour or one half of a cup ????
one and half cups
Can this cake be frozen, without the icing on top?
yes it can
Can this be made without the banana due to allergy to them?
Yes it can
Yes it can.
Would malt vineger work or does it HAVE to be white?
Hi Filio, I haven’t tried it with any other vinegar. As long as the vinegar makes bicarbonate soda bubble up then it should work.
I substituted the flour for gluten free flour and this turned out to be the best gf cake I’ve made! Not all recipes work when you substitute flours but this was amazing. Moist, light and fluffy and you wouldn’t know its gluten free! So easy, uses pantry staples, this is definitely going to be my go to cake ?
Hi Jess, that’s great news. Thanks for letting me know.
How can i make self rising flour? I only have all purpose flour?
Add 2 tsp baking powder with the plain flour. This will make self raising.
Amanda can you make these into cupcakes
Most likely not as the cake needs to cook slow for the rising process to occur.
Hi, thanks for the great recipe.
Just thought I would let you know I made this into cupcakes. I added a tsp of baking powder and obviously mixed all ingredients in a bowl. I baked them until skewer came out clean, from memory about 15-20 min. They turned out great.
Thanks again.
Thanks Natalie, that’s great to hear.
What could i use instead of vinegar… we have a vinegar allergy in this house?
You could see if it works with lemon juice. I haven’t tried it but it could give them same affect as the vinegar does in this recipe.
This cake has the most accurate name!! Crazy!! –
the easiest cake I have ever made and ABSOLUTELY divine!! Thanks so much for sharing, it’s now my No. 1 go-to!!! In love!!!
So glad you like it Charmaine, it’s such a great recipe.