This chocolate banana cake is the perfect summer dessert. It’s full of chocolate flavor, rich, fudgy, and decadent. The best part? This chocolate banana cake contains only two ingredients! The recipe is vegan (dairy-free, egg-free), grain-free (gluten-free), soy-free, nut-free, and refined sugar-free.

Chocolate is an incredibly versatile ingredient!

Of course, you can add chocolate to almost any mixture – fold it into cupcakes, stir it into cookies, or whip it into buttercream. Chocolate is a great way to add cocoa opulence to any baked good.

BUT there are also recipes where chocolate is the main ingredient. This chocolate banana cake is a great example. The chocolate in this cake provides not only flavor but also structure. For instance, you could replace the banana purée with pumpkin purée, and the cake would turn out the same. The fruit purée just prevents the chocolate from returning to its solid form.

Other similar recipes include chocolate fudge, nice cream, or chocolate ganache. In fact, the chocolate ganache I used for this chocolate banana cake consists only of chocolate and cashew milk. That’s it. 

All these desserts are best served cold as they rely purely on chocolate to firm up. No need to turn the oven on!

Tips for Making Chocolate Banana Cake

Ingredients

The best part about this chocolate banana cake is that you only need two ingredients to make it:

• Chocolate: the type of chocolate you use is completely up to you. If you like sweet desserts, use semi-sweet chocolate. If you prefer less sweet desserts, go with dark chocolate. I typically use 70% chocolate or a combination of 70% and 85% dark chocolate. And, of course, if you have the time, make your own chocolate.
• Bananas: I like this recipe the most with ripe, but not overripe bananas. I find that overripe bananas have a strong, intense banana flavor. On the other hand, perfectly ripe bananas are pleasantly sweet with a distinctively fruity flavor.

How to Make Chocolate Banana Cake

While there’s nothing difficult about this cake, here are a few tips to make sure your cake turns out perfectly:

1. Set up a double boiler. Add a few inches of water to a medium saucepan and top it with a stainless-steel bowl slightly larger than the circumference of the saucepan. The bowl should create a seal with the bottom saucepan to trap the steam produced by the hot water. Ensure the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the water – this would cause the chocolate to get too hot. Bring the water to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat. Once the water is hot, turn the heat to the lowest setting. 
2.  Melt the chocolate. Add the chocolate to the stainless steel bowl set over the saucepan and melt the chocolate, stirring constantly, until the chocolate is completely smooth. 
3. Blend. Add the melted chocolate and bananas to a high-speed blender and blend on high until smooth. Be careful not to over-blend the mixture; otherwise, the batter will get too liquidy. Alternatively, mash the bananas with a fork, pour in the melted chocolate, and mix until smooth. You should end up with a thick but pourable batter.
4. Pour the batter into a springform pan. Transfer the mixture to a lightly greased 6-inch/15-cm springform pan and spread it evenly, smoothing out the top. Tap out any air bubbles. 
5. Freeze. Transfer the chocolate banana cake to the freezer to firm up, for about 2 hours. The more frozen the cake, the easier and cleaner the removal from the pan. 
6. Serve. Once set, remove the chocolate banana cake from the springform pan. Cut the cake when it’s still semi-frozen to get nice and symmetrical slices, and then store the individual slices in the refrigerator so they’re ready to eat.

Note: The chocolate banana cake photos were taken with double the amount of cake batter. I actually prefer a flatter cake for this recipe, so I halved the recipe for the recipe box. If you’d like your cake to look like the one in the photos, use a 6-inch springform pan and double the recipe.

How to Store Chocolate Banana Cake

• Refrigerating: transfer the chocolate banana cake to an airtight container and refrigerate it for up to 1 week.
• Freezing: transfer the chocolate banana cake to an airtight container and freeze it for up to 1 month.

More Chocolate Cake Recipes

• Chocolate cake: this dessert is everything you want in a chocolate cake – perfectly rich and creamy, with a melt-in-your-mouth texture. 
• Nutella tart: this tart is an easy, no-bake dessert perfect for chocolate lovers! It has a soft, chewy crust and a smooth, chocolaty Nutella filling – great for holidays or even a date night.

If you try any of these recipes, please leave a comment and rate the recipe below. It always means a lot when you do.

Print Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Chocolate Banana Cake

This chocolate banana cake is the perfect summer dessert. It's full of chocolate flavor, rich, fudgy, and decadent. The best part? This chocolate banana cake contains only two ingredients!

Prep Time20 minutes mins

Freeze time2 hours hrs

Total Time2 hours hrs 20 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: chocolate banana cake, chocolate banana cake recipe

Servings: 12 slices

Ingredients

• 2 cups dark or semi-sweet chocolate , finely chopped
• 3 medium bananas

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Set up a double boiler. Add a few inches of water to a medium saucepan and top it with a stainless-steel bowl slightly larger than the circumference of the saucepan. The bowl should create a seal with the bottom saucepan to trap the steam produced by the hot water. Ensure the bottom of the bowl isn’t touching the water – this would cause the chocolate to get too hot. Bring the water to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat. Once the water is hot, turn the heat to the lowest setting.  
• Melt the chocolate. Add the chocolate to the stainless steel bowl set over the saucepan and melt the chocolate, stirring constantly, until the chocolate is completely smooth. 
• Blend. Add the melted chocolate and bananas to a high-speed blender and blend on high until smooth. Be careful not to overblend the mixture otherwise the batter will get too liquidy. Alternatively, you could also mash the bananas with a fork, pour in the melted chocolate, and mix until smooth. You should end up with a thick but pourable batter.
• Pour the batter into a springform pan. Transfer the mixture to a lightly greased 6-inch/15-cm springform pan and spread it evenly, smoothing out the top. Tap out any air bubbles.
• Freeze. Transfer the chocolate banana cake to the freezer to firm up, for about 2 hours. The more frozen the cake, the easier and cleaner the removal from the pan. 
• Serve. Once set, remove the chocolate banana cake from the springform pan. Cut the cake when it's still semi-frozen to get nice and symmetrical slices and then store the individual slices in the refrigerator so they're ready to eat.
• Store. Leftover chocolate banana cake keeps well in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. For longer-term storage, freeze in an airtight container for up to 1 month.

Equipment

blender

cookware

springform pan

Recipe Notes

*The chocolate banana cake photos were taken with double the amount of cake batter. I actually prefer a flatter cake for this recipe, so I halved the recipe for the recipe box. If you'd like your cake to look like the one in the photos, use a 6-inch springform pan and double the recipe.

**Nutrition information is approximate and may contain errors. Please feel free to make your own calculations.

Nutrition Facts

Chocolate Banana Cake

Amount Per Serving (1 of 12)

Calories 228 Calories from Fat 135

% Daily Value*

Fat 15g23%

Carbohydrates 22g7%

Fiber 5g21%

Sugar 17g19%

Protein 3g6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.