Banana Chocolate Chiffon Cake with Dark Chocolate Drip

I had a request for banana chocolate chiffon cake topped with dark chocolate drip!

I took the liberty of including salted caramel white chocolate stripes along the sides of the cake, on the inside ring of the chiffon cake and also for the name. The requester saw my first banana chiffon drip cake and wanted something similar for her son. She actually requested for not just one, but two such cakes for separate celebrations with different number of pax!

I baked a 15cm and a 17cm chiffon cake at the same time

I will provide the recipe for baking the banana chocolate chiffon cake for these two chiffon tin sizes. Please use the baking temperature and time as references since each oven behaves differently. Always use an oven thermometer. The chiffon cake itself is more banana-y than chocolatey as the cake was supposed to be covered with dark chocolate ganache. So I decided to go easy on the cocoa powder in the sponge recipe. You may choose to replace 5-10g of cake flour with more cocoa powder to increase the chocolate flavour if that's your preference. Make sure you use overripe bananas for that extra banana-y flavour! I used the cooked dough method here, adapting the recipe from my previous banana chiffon drip cake.

Banana chocolate chiffon using 15cm chiffon tin
Ingredients:
110g banana puree (about 1-1.5 large bananas)
28g canola oil
15g fresh milk
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp caramel flavouring (optional)
1/4 tsp Kahlua coffee liqueur (optional)
1/8 tsp salt
45g cake flour
10g Dutch processed cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 egg yolks

3 egg whites
1/5 tsp cream of tartar
45g caster sugar

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 150℃. Set oven rack to lowest or second lowest position. Place a tray of water at base of oven (optional). I place the water at the base to create steam.

2. Prepare egg yolk batter. Sift together cake flour, baking soda and cocoa powder in a large enough mixing bowl. You will be preparing the batter in this bowl. In another bowl, combine mashed bananas, milk, salt and flavourings.

3. Heat oil in a small saucepan until temperature reaches 90℃ (I am using a higher temperature here than previously to bring out the chocolate flavour from the cocoa powder more strongly). If you don't have an instant read thermometer, heat until you are able to see swirl lines in the oil. Pour all the oil at once into the flour mixture. Whisk until well combined. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes. This allows the cocoa powder to bloom.

4. Gradually add the banana mixture and whisk until well combined. The mixture will become very thick but just continue. Add the egg yolks one at a time and whisk until well combined. The mixture should smoothen out in consistency and become less thick.

5. Prepare the meringue. In a clean metal bowl, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. Gradually add sugar and beat until firm peaks form but you are able to turn the bowl upside down without meringue slipping out.

6. Quickly but gently fold the meringue into the egg yolk batter in three batches until no trace of meringue is seen.

7. Pour batter into chiffon tin. Gently run a chopstick through the batter to pop any trapped air bubbles. Place chiffon tin in oven and reduce temperature to 140℃. Bake for 30 minutes. Reduce temperature to 120℃ and bake for another 20 minutes. Some people may prefer to bake at higher temperature but I find that for my oven it makes the cake rise too fast, causing it to have huge cracks and dries the cake out more. So just use a baking temperature and time that works for you.

Banana chocolate chiffon using 17cm chiffon tin
Ingredients:
165g banana puree (about 2-3 large bananas)
42g canola oil
22g fresh milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp caramel flavouring (optional)
1/2 tsp Kahlua coffee liqueur (optional)
1/4 tsp salt
67g cake flour
15g Dutch processed cocoa powder
3/8 tsp baking soda
3 egg yolks

4 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
60g caster sugar

Steps:
Same as above but bake for 30 minutes at 120℃ after the first 30 minutes at 140℃.

Resulting cake is super moist so it was a little challenging to unmould by hand. You may use a spatula to unmould if you wish.

I used a firmer dark chocolate drip by using ratio of about 1.4:1 for dark chocolate: whipping cream. You may use a ratio of 1:1 if you wish but it's better to chill the cake thoroughly before frosting with the drip if you are going for 1:1 ratio.

I whipped the salted caramel white chocolate ganache to give it a more spreadable, creamy texture so that it can frost the sides of the cake well. Caramel flavour compliments banana and chocolate very well so do add this to the cake if you have the bandwidth! I added more white chocolate to the caramel frosting to improve the colour contrast (lighter brown) so the caramel flavour isn't as intense.

Dark chocolate drip
Note that amount suggested here is enough to cover both cakes.
Ingredients:
140g dark chocolate couverture
100g whipping cream

Steps:
1. Heat cream until it just starts to bubble.

2. Pour hot cream over a bowl of chocolate couverture. Wait for a mitnue before stirring in one direction until chocolate is melted and smooth. Alternatively, you may just double boil the cream with chocolate until smooth and melted, or use the microwave.

Resulting chocolate ganache should have a thick gravy consistency before you start covering the cake with it. It will be a thinner gravy consistency if you use a ratio of 1:1.

White chocolate salted caramel frosting
Ingredients:
60g salted caramel chips
30g white chocolate chips
30g whipping cream

Steps:
1. Same as for dark chocolate drip for creating the frosting for piping the name on the cake. The ganache should be a thick gravy consistency.

2. In order to make a frosting for the sides of the cake, chill the ganache in fridge for a few minutes and beat it with a spatula or electric mixer until smooth. Repeat chilling and beating until mixture is smooth and creamy.

Transfer the ganaches into piping bags and create the desired frosting.

You may wish to decorate with some bright red coloured fresh fruits to make the cake more attractive in appearance. I filled the holes in the chiffon cake with strawberries. I can assure you that this cake is definitely yummy! I had great feedback for both cakes!


With love,
Phay Shing