Chef notes
Make banana bread even better by layering it with ice cream! Chill this cake overnight to ensure clean slices of the cake when cutting. You can also make it into ice cream sandwiches instead of an entire cake, if you prefer.
Technique tip: Build cake in the cake pan.
Swap option: Use almond butter instead of peanut butter.
Ingredients
- 1¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/3 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 4 medium bananas, very ripe
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2-3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 2 pints vanilla ice cream, softened
- 1/2 cup melted semi-sweet chocolate (between 65-70%), for garnish
Preparation
1.Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray two 8-inch cake pans with nonstick cooking spray and line with a parchment round.
2.In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3.In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter, sugar and sour cream (or yogurt) until light and fluffy, about 4 to 5 minutes.
4.Add eggs to creamed butter and sugar mixture one at a time. Mix together until combined.
5.In another medium bowl, mash bananas just until small lumps remain. Stir in lemon juice.
6.Add mashed banana mixture to batter in the stand mixer. Stir to combine. Slowly add in flour mixture until just a few streaks of flour remain. Fold in chocolate chips.
7.Transfer batter to prepared cake pans. Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to the pan and letting cool completely on a wire rack.
8.Once caked have cooled slightly, line one of the 8-inch cake pans with a parchment sling to help with cake removal after it is built. Add one of the cooled cake layers on top of the parchment sling.
9.Spread 1/2 cup peanut butter on top of the bottom cake layer.
10.Add softened ice cream over top of the peanut butter and spread to the edges. Add second cake layer on top of the ice cream. Freeze until very firm for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight.
11.Remove cake from the pan using the parchment overhang. Place on serving platter and drizzle with melted chocolate.
