
Hello, my name is Angela and I hoard black bananas.
(Eric made me tell you this today.)
Every time I go to the grocery store, I head straight for the ‘Reduced’ produce section just so I can see if there are any bananas that I can save. I see people passing by perfectly good bananas and I want to leave a sticky note on the bananas saying ‘I’m great for BANANA BREAD!’ or ‘try me in a GREEN MONSTER!’ and then hide behind the bins to see their reactions. I’m afraid they would ban me from my beloved grocery store and that would never be a good thing for a food blogger.
When I finally admitted to Eric that I had a problem, I agreed that the bananas were beginning to pose a health risk to all parties involved. I had several spotted bananas on the counter and a stash of black bananas in a paper bag in the fridge.
Over 10 of them…solid black and starting to leak juices.
When Eric exposed my stash of bananas in the paper bag I knew it would all be over soon if I didn’t take action.
But health risk or not, these babies are at the PEAK of their lives! Yesterday morning, I celebrated by making a chocolate chip banana cake. It would taste so delicious our heads would spin.
Because you really can’t screw up a banana cake when using bananas that look like this…


It’s just not possible.


Rustic Chocolate Chip Banana Oat Cake with Peanut Butter Banana Glaze

Yield
8-10 servings
Prep time
Rest time
15 minutes
Cook time
Total time
This rustic looking banana cake blew our socks off with an intense banana flavour and sweet bites of chocolate. It has a wonderful chewy texture from the oats and a little bit of crunch from the nuts. You’d never guess it has just two tablespoons of oil and it can easily be made gluten-free by using GF oats!
Ingredients
For the cake
- 2 cups regular oats, processed into a flour
- 1/2 cup regular oats (not processed)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed firmly
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8th tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/16th tsp ground cloves (optional)
- 2 tbsp cane sugar (or regular white)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted (or other light tasting oil)
- 2 medium very ripe bananas, peeled
- 1/3 cup applesauce
- 1/4 cup almond milk
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- Fold in: 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips; 1/4 cup walnuts, chopped; 1 ripe banana, cut into chunks
For the PB Banana Glaze (makes 2/3-3/4 cup)
- 1 ripe banana (but not too ripe, you still want it solid!)
- 2 tbsp peanut butter (I used White Chocolate Wonderful flavour)
- 1/2 cup icing sugar, sifted
- Pinch of kosher salt, to taste
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C) and lightly grease a 8 inch (4 cup) casserole dish or 8” cake pan. Take 2 cups of regular oats and process them in a food processor until flour like in consistency.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (processed oats, regular oats, sugars, spices, baking powder, and salt).
- In another bowl, mix together the oil, applesauce, almond milk, and vanilla. Add in the two peeled bananas and smash into the wet ingredients until smooth.
- Add the wet mixture to the dry and stir until just combined. Now fold in the chips, optional walnuts, and the chopped banana.
- Spread into prepared pan and bake for 36 minutes at 350°F (175°C) or until a toothpick comes out clean. The cake must be cooled for at least 15-20 minutes before attempting to remove.
- Once fully cooled, slice and top with PB Banana Glaze (see below). Store in the fridge for up to 3 days (without Glaze).
- PB Banana Glaze: Mash banana in a bowl until smooth. Add in peanut butter and mash until combined.
- Sift in the salt and icing sugar and stir until fully combined. Makes about 2/3 cup glaze. Store in fridge in a sealed contained for 1-2 days.
Tip:
The great thing about this recipe is that I used regular oats and processed them into a flour, so this recipe can be easily made gluten-free if you use GF oats.

It also contains just 2 tbsp of oil, but it is a very moist and flavourful cake. The unsweetened applesauce and ripe bananas replace most of the oil in this recipe. This is not your average banana cake by any means.

it takes just 10-15 minutes to throw it together and pop it in the oven.
Add wet to dry:
Fold in chopped banana, chocolate chips, and nuts:
Scoop into baking dish or cake pan.

My sister Kerrie gave me this baking dish on the weekend! Does she know me or what? I’m in love. :)

Bake for 36 minutes at 350F or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 15-20 minutes so it can firm up and set otherwise it will fall apart when you try to get it out.

While you are waiting you can make the delicious glaze.



After cooling, slice and serve!

This rustic cake turned out so much better than I thought it would, especially because I just winged the recipe by the seat of my pants. The result is a dense, moist, and extremely flavourful cake with a lovely chewiness from the oats and nuts.

Oh, and the bites of banana are out of this world!

If you want to make this into a dessert, serve it with the PB Banana Glaze.
If you want to make it into a breakfast cake, you can leave out the chocolate and use more nuts. Or just leave in all the chocolate! ;)
Eric said this one is ‘in the vault’…

Oh and I still have about 7 black bananas to use up….what to make….

Are you a banana fan? What are your favourite meals or recipes that include bananas?
This looks amazingly delicious, Angela! I’m a huge banana fan, and my morning is just not right with one cooked into stovetop oatmeal, sliced in top of granola, or stirred into yogurt. I will absolutely be making this oat cake :).
I too have a problem. I used my black bananas Saturday. I made oatmeal almond butter and banana cookies with a almond butter & agave glaze. Yummy breakfast!
What is oatmeal almond butter? :)
LOL! Oatmeal cookies with banana and with almond butter. Not oatmeal almond butter. But you got me thinking, can I throw some oats into my processor with my almonds?!? Might have to try that one.
I was hoping you had a recipe I could make haha ;)
Kindred spirits! I totally stalk the gross old reduced bananas at the store. I once got 30 for $1.09 at NoFrills and it made my month – do the unit cost there – amazing! Green smoothie ammunition for weeks! My housemate thinks I’m a freak when I make a big deal of these things.
omg 30 banana for a buck ten? That is truly a gift. lol.
Good God! Be still my little heart. I CAN NOT wait to try this recipe. I’m already in love and I haven’t even tasted it!
haha I love your enthusiasm!
So yummy! I actually am the opposite tho, I only like bananas when they are almost ripe. As soon as they are ripe I can’t eat them by themselves. I don’t have to worry about wasting them because my 4 kids go through a big bunch of bananas in 3 days flat. I have to hide a couple if I want to use them in baking.
I love baking them into healthy granola type bars for hiking and school snacks.
You so beyond funny! I am also a horder of black banana’s. Just yesterday I made your bananna cranberry oat bars. But since my husband loves chocolate and its that time of the month I subed the cranberry for chocolate. Needless to say it was amazing. Also if I were you I would use some of the left over bananas to make a chocolate bananna cupcake with a PB “butter” cream. But that could be my period typing. lol. Hope you have a great day!
ohh thanks for reminding me about those bars! Perfect way to use them up :)
I’m a big fan of bananas! I’ve been eating a lot of them plain, in banana-nut-butter sandwiches, in Green Monsters (I got over my aversion to drinking them in cold weather) and with Evan’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Dessert Hummus.
I feel so much better about having 10 barely spotted bananas on my counter. Ryan says they are going bad, I say they are just about to get good.
I’ve never had bananas that go black like that, because they never last long enough! I know that sounds like we love bananas a lot, but it’s actually just because we can never look at it in the fruit bowl and feel like it’s going bad before our very eyes… plus we buy bananas very very rarely.
Oh deliciousness. I have two old bananas in my fridge. hmmm. hmmm.
Oh my gosh, epically delicious!
This looks like it would make a great “dessert” breakfast!
My dad, the notorious chocolate lover, can’t get enough of my banana bread! I’ve been making it since I was about 8 years old. It does use eggs and butter, so I’m unable to eat it, but he asks me every week to make him some. As a diabetic, I know this is much better for him than chocolate chip cookies or snickerdoodles (his other favorites), so I’m happy to make it every once in a while. Now, to perfect my vegan version so I can partake! (I might have to borrow this recipe…)
My usual grocery store always has a section of discounted bananas with red tape on them to show they’re “past their prime”–best thing ever! I always keep a bag of overripe bananas in the freezer for baking and smoothie purposes. I have a recipe from my grandma for “St. John’s Banana Bread” that I’ve made tons of times. It’s delish, but probably due for a healthy update :)
Love this recipe! I made something similar a while back, but it was more of a banana bread (non-vegan) type thing. Gotta love a good peanut butter glaze.
wow. that looks soo good. i hoard black bananas too :) by the way i made your spinach artichoke dip and it was SO good! everyone loved it and I’m definitely making it again
This looks absolutely amazing! What a perfect breakfast/snack/dinner… I’d take it anytime. I’m allergic to peanuts so I’d probably try making a chocolate sauce with coconut milk. Do you think that would be good with it?
I’m a banana hoarder too! I also head straight for the 1/2 price bananas in my organic market, but I must have competition because lately I’ve been missing out on them. My kids would love this cake, and I’m always looking for great skiing snacks. This would be perfect – thanks!
Haha, I’m ALWAYS the one to eat the blackened bananas at my house,…I just can’t let bananas go to waste! :) This recipe looks amazing! I’ll have to make it for breakfast someday soon!
oh.em.gee. I am way to hungry to be looking at food blogs this morning, as I’m pretty sure I might be slightly drooling at my desk. Awesome.
Clearly, this looks amazing!
omg, that looks amazing!!!