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.
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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 recipe looks fantastic!!! I had all the ingredients in my kitchen, so I am anxiously waiting for the oven timer to go off!! If it’s as good as the batter was (hehe–it’s safe b/c there’s no eggs so what’s the harm in doing a little pre-tasting) then it’s going to be great!!
My in-laws love banana cream pie….I often make a really easy recipe that is on kraftfoods.com, but it certainly isn’t vegan. I also love the banana soft serve!!
mmmmm….update on the banana cake…the banana chunks mixed with the oaty cake and dark chocolate….there are no words! Banana soft serve would be an awesome compliment to this banana cake!
I admit I am one of those people who turned my nose up at the black bananas, but I may just need to change my ways!
I don’t comment often, if ever, BUT this one totally hit home. many times reading your posts i wonder if you were in my head while writing. i’m glad to know that i’m not the only one who hoards black bananas! when i first started eating green monsters i figured out the darker the better, my friends and family thought i lost it. the cake looks delicious! ill never feel ashamed of my bananas again.
hehe glad im not alone!! Im telling Eric!
My favorite ingredients: oats, peanut butter, banana, chocolate. I also happen to always have these ingredients on hand, so I can tell that I am going be making this cake this often. Starting this weekend! Thank you for inspiring my baking and cooking.
Wow! You always come up with the most amazing looking recipes. I’m drooling.
This looks phenomenal, like totally mouth-watering!! I’ve never seen a banana get THAT black before haha!
This looks amazing and I want to use that glaze on everything!
I am definitely a banana fan, and I love them turned into soft serve and layered with VOO :-) Your specialty!!
I love “rustic” recipes like that. Can’t go wrong with banana’s, chocolate, and oats.
Oh wow! I thought I was bad this morning, when the peels of the ripe bananas I was unpeeling practically fell off in my hands. But my bananas were still mostly yellow! I bow down to your hoarding techniques, and shall now have to get my bananas out of the freezer to make this. Sounds so so good!
OMG this is the combination of the best flavors in the world!!!
Now I know black bananas are gods gift to the earth if it ends up like that!
Haha oh my gosh, I’ve never seen such black bananas! I can never keep mine around long enough to get to that stage. :P
Do you think I could fit this cake in a 9×4 inch pan? I want to make it tomorrow!
Hehe. I love your story. Too funny; you are such a great writer. Oh, and the cake sounds deeeelicious!!!
HOLY WOW!!! I read your blog every day and don’t comment very often, but I had to give kudos where kudos are due! You go girl ;-)
I love banana and peanut butter ! It looks so delicious ! What camera are you using that your pictures come out so clear ?
My camera info is on my newly updated FAQ page at the top :)
I love bananas and also hoard them. I may have to use up some of my hoarded bananas with this recipe
Wow! These look so good! I just stumbled upon your website last week and I must say I have been so addicted! I was just talking to a friend last week (who only eat Raw food) and after talking to her I know that I have been needing to make some healthier changes in my families diet. One of the things that I was so dreading was giving up baking healthy until I came across your website. I have also been experimenting with the Green Monster (my kiddos love it and the name;) but I have had allergies to spinach for a while now and tried it today, no go! I was sick all morning. Do you have any suggestions with the kale so that I don’t feel like I have to chew my smoothie? Thanks so much for all the inspiration!
Alyssa,
For kale you want to tear it off of its stem then blend just the kale and 1 cup of liquid until you have a green juice. Turn blender off, build the rest of your smoothie and finally blend again until desired texture ;)
Hehe, I always procrastinate on eating my bananas and before I know it they’ve got the black plague…this looks unbelievable, though! I like banana walnut muffins – simple but tasty!
Cool! I just posted something similar ( but wayyyyy less healthy! hahaha ) Always a ton of ripe bananas around here! Aloha from Hawaii :)