Chocolate Covered Gula Melaka Banana Cake

I hardly ever come across people who don’t love the combination of chocolate and banana; these two ingredients always get along very well. Today, I am sharing with you one of my most favourite cake recipes and I bet with you, nobody will say “boo” to this frighteningly delicious Chocolate Covered Gula Melaka Banana Cake!

To make this cake really divine, use bananas that are very ripe – the ones that have brown flecks on the peel. Bananas contain tryptophan, an amino acid that helps your body produce serotonin, a natural substance that has a calming effect on the brain and can act as a gentle sedative. Chocolate has also been shown to boost serotonin.

Therefore, get your ingredients and taste buds ready for these tantalizing treat!

Preparation time:   25 minutes

Cooking time: 40 minutes

Serves:   6

6 ripe bananas (Del Monte size)

270 g self-raising plain flour, sifted

1 teaspoon fine salt

80 g raisins, roughly chopped

220 g grated Gula Melaka (palm sugar) or dark brown sugar

3 large eggs, beaten

90 g melted butter, slightly cooled

CHOCOLATE ICING

180 g unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

200 g unsalted butter

450 g icing sugar, sifted

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Line a loaf tin with non-stick baking paper or grease with butter and dust with flour and shake off excess.
3. Peel 3 of the bananas and mash it until smooth.
4. Peel remaining bananas and mash it coarsely and combine with above.
5. Place flour, salt and raisins together in a bowl.
6. Put grated gula melaka, eggs and melted butter into a mixing bowl and whisk with an electric mixer until it increases in volume.
7. Fold in the mashed bananas and the flour until well incorporated.
8. Pour batter into the prepared tin and bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted in the cake.
9. Cool in tin for 10 minutes before cooling on a wire rack.
10. To make the chocolate icing, melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
11. Beat the butter until smooth and creamy (about 1 minute) with a wooden spoon or using an electric mixer. Add the icing sugar and beat until it is light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract.
12. Add the chocolate and beat on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat until frosting is smooth and glossy (about 2 -3 minutes).
13. Spread the icing on the cake and leave it to set in fridge before cutting and serving.