Chocolate and Banana Hazelnut Cake
This Chocolate and Banana Nut Cake is one of the best I’ve ever made, the texture is fine and it cuts beautifully. The flavour of the chocolate hazelnut spread is subtle, the banana gives the cake moisture and the icing is just so good.
The chocolate-covered cob nuts really add a lovely crunch and creamy texture to the cake and the topping. I can assure you that it didn’t last long. It was my birthday recently and, my Mum made me a beautiful Dundee Cake, however, I decided to treat myself to a little indulgence and create a Chocolate and Banana Nut Cake to celebrate.
Kentish Cob Nuts
I had been sent a packet of cob nuts covered in Ghana milk chocolate by the lovely people at Potash Farm in Kent and decided to use them in a nutty, chocolatey delight.
Kentish cobnuts were favoured by the Victorians who enjoyed them as an after-dinner accompaniment to vintage port. They have been grown around St Marys Platt in Kent since the early 1800s and by the turn of the century, an estimated 7000 acres had been planted in orchards known locally as plats.
Cob nuts are available from Potash Farm in a variety of forms, but a lightly toasted nut enrobed in either single estate Ecuador plain or Ghana milk chocolate has to be one of the best.
Facts and figures about cobnuts
The official cobnut season starts on August 22nd, St Philibert’s Day
- Cobnut pickers are called ‘nutters’
- 6 cobnuts offer the equivalent iron and protein of ½ lb of red meat. They are also high in calcium and vitamin A
- The cobnut is a cultivated form of hazel. While the classic hazelnut is fingernail shaped, cobnuts are broader, longer and shaped more like a thumbnail.
- Fresh and unprocessed, cobnuts can be eaten moist straight after picking in late August and September, when they have the texture of a sweet chestnut.
- As they turn brown in the autumn, cob nuts dry out and the starch inside turns to sugar, they become much sweeter.
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PIN FOR LATER
Chocolate and Banana Nut Cake
A most delicious moist chocolate cake, ideal for a special treat.
Ingredients
For the Cake
- 2 (2) ripe bananas
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) bicarbonate of soda
- 2 tablespoons (2 tablespoons) hot milk
- 100 grams (3.5 oz) soft butter
- 175 grams (6 oz) caster sugar
- 2 (2) eggs
- 225 grams (2 cups) spelt flour or plain flour
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) baking powder
- 1 tablespoon (1 tablespoon) Chocolate Hazelnut spread
- 45 grams (2 oz) chopped chocolate covered cob nuts or hazelnuts
For the Icing/Frosting
- 50 grams (2 oz) butter
- 1 tablespoon (1 tablespoon) chocolate hazelnut spread
- 2 tablespoon (2 tablespoon) cocoa powder sieved
- 3 tablespoon (3 tablespoon) milk
- 150 grams (1.25 cups) icing sugar sieved
To decorate
- 40 grams (1.5 oz) chocolate covered cob nuts or hazelnuts
Instructions
For the Cake
- Heat the oven to 180C. Grease and line a 900g (2lb) loaf tin.
- Peel the bananas and mash them in a large bowl. Dissolve the Chocolate Hazelnut spread in the hot milk, mixing until there are no lumps, then add the bicarbonate of soda. Pour/spoon this mixture into the bowl with the bananas, then add all the other ingredients except the nuts, and beat well with hand mixer.
- Chop the nuts roughly leaving good sized chunks, then fold them into the mixture.
- Fill the mixture into the loaf tin and bake for about an hour. It should be well risen and brown. Test with a skewer and if it comes out clean the cake is ready.
- Turn it out and remove the lining paper. Leave to cool on a wire rack. Once the cake is cool make the icing/frosting.
For the Icing/Frosting
- Melt the butter in a small pan add the cocoa and the chocolate hazelnut spread, stir to blend and cook gently for 1 minute. Stir in the milk and the icing sugar. Take off the heat and mix well, then leave to cool, stirring occasionally until the icing thickens.
- Spread the icing over the top of the loaf cake with a wet spatula, don’t worry if it looks a little bit oily, it will settle as it sets.
- Chop the remaining cob nuts in half and place onto the icing to ensure an even coverage. Leave the cake for a couple of hours before cutting.
Notes
If you are not able to access Kentish Cobnuts then you can substitute hazelnuts or any other nuts.
Nutrition
Calories: 572kcalCarbohydrates: 77gProtein: 8gFat: 26gSaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 82mgSodium: 317mgPotassium: 326mgFiber: 6gSugar: 49gVitamin A: 555IUVitamin C: 3.2mgCalcium: 74mgIron: 2.8mg
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Looks delicious Janice & belated birthday wishes. Hope you had a lovely day 🙂
happy birthday darling, truly looks like a gorgeous cake… love the addition of nutella in the icing, now THAT I must have a go at. love the gorgeous colour of the inside of the cake too, looks like velvet!
The cake looks fantastic, what a perfect birthday treat! Happy birthday!
Happy belated birthday Janice! What a lovely sounding cake and a great use of those Kentish cobnuts
Happy belated birthday and your cake looks delicious 🙂 x
I am sure I commented on this, although it may have been FB! LOL! I am so sorry I missed your birthday – which was when? So I can add it to my diary! LOVE the cake too…..a VERY happy belated birthday to you, Karen xxx
Your cake looks really tasty, happy birthday 🙂
Wishing you a very happy birthday – I wish I liked bananas as your cake looks wonderful. Thanks loads for joining in with #Bakeoftheweek
Hope you had a great birthday – that cake looks super!
Now that's one hell of a cake! Banana and chocolate, perfect combination!
It’s funny, I never used to be a fan of banana cake, but I really like it these days. Your chocolate and banana version with hazelnuts sounds totally lush.