Banana-Chocolate Cake with Peanut Caramel Sauce

This banana-chocolate cake is the kind of recipe that prompts you to intentionally leave your bananas on the counter to get overripe, just so you have an excuse to bake. Most banana bread recipes use vegetable oil instead of butter and chocolate chips instead of cocoa powder. But thanks to sour cream, melted butter, and cocoa powder, this  recipe is more chocolate cake than bread. Using crunchy peanut butter for the caramel sauce provides a bit of texture while also adding nuttiness, and takes this cake beyond the realm of breakfast foods and into dessert land. 

Can you make banana bread without ripe bananas? 

Yes! There are two things you can do when your bananas aren’t quite ripe. First, add more sugar. Overripe bananas are sweeter than others, so add 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar per unripe banana to make up for the lost sweet flavor. (The greener the banana, the more unripe.) You can also use the amylase found in egg yolks to convert the banana’s starches into liquid sugar. To do this, mash one egg yolk (from the eggs in your recipe) into a medium banana and let sit for at least 30 minutes before using in the recipe.

Do you have to use the corn syrup in the caramel? 

The corn syrup in the caramel helps keep the sugar from crystallizing. You can skip the corn syrup but the consistency of the caramel may be slightly grainy.

Notes from the Food & Wine Test Kitchen

Using melted butter, as opposed to room temperature butter, helps the cake batter soak all the flour, which results in a smooth texture. 

Make ahead

Store the cake at room temperature in an airtight container for up to three days or freeze the cake wrapped tightly in plastic wrap for up to three months.