Banana Chocolate Chip Cake

Got ripe bananas and some chocolate chips? It’s time to make banana chocolate chip cake with this easy recipe – it’s the best snack cake ever!

This easy Banana Chocolate Chip Cake is soft, moist and packed with sweet banana flavor and plenty of chocolate chips. It comes together in about 15 minutes with simple pantry ingredients, then bakes in one 8-inch pan for an easy snack cake that’s perfect for dessert, lunchboxes or an afternoon treat.

🔎 A quick look at this recipe

Why this recipe works

• 🍌 Ripe bananas make the cake naturally sweet and tender. Those spotty bananas that nobody wants to eat are exactly what we want here.
• 🍫 Chocolate chips make every bite better. Because bananas and chocolate were meant for each other.
• 🥣 It’s wonderfully easy. The batter comes together in about 15 minutes with basic pantry ingredients.
• ⏱️ It’s ready in 45 minutes. Perfect when you want homemade cake without an all-afternoon baking project.
• 🎂 No frosting required! This simple snack cake is sweet and delicious exactly as it is.

This banana chocolate chip cake has an extra-special place in my heart, because it’s the very first recipe I ever wrote for Framed Cooks! And all these years later, I’m still making it whenever a certain familiar banana situation happens in my kitchen.

Every now and then I get into a Situation with some over-ripe bananas, and it usually begins like this. Someone who shall remain nameless says “Mama, I really really want bananas. Can we get bananas when we go to the supermarket?”

And so I purchase a lovely large bunch of bananas.

One gets promptly eaten. The rest of them languish on the banana hook. And as soon as they develop one infinitesimal speck of brown on them — well, that’s all she wrote. And out comes this recipe.

This banana snack cake is what I call a pantry recipe – it can be mixed together in about 15 minutes from ingredients you probably have in your pantry right this minute. Pop it in the oven and 30 minutes later…well let’s just say this cake will NEVER languish for long.

🧐 What’s the difference between banana bread and banana cake?

Both are delicious ways to use up those extra-ripe bananas! Banana bread tends to be denser, sturdier and a little less sweet, while banana cake is generally softer, lighter and sweeter. And in this case, a generous handful of chocolate chips definitely pushes things happily into cake territory.

🍌 Ingredients you need

📝 Ingredient notes

• Bananas: The riper, the better! Look for bananas with lots of brown spots on the peel. Extra-ripe bananas are softer, sweeter and have a stronger banana flavor.
• Chocolate Chips: Regular semisweet chocolate chips are perfect, but mini chips will give you little bits of chocolate throughout every bite.
• Baking Powder: Check that expiration date! Fresh baking powder helps give this cake its soft, light texture.

💡 Ingredient substitution ideas

Missing something or want to swap in something different? Check out the links below to find more ingredient substitution ideas. 👇🏻

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities and nutritional information.

👩🏻‍🍳 How to make this recipe

STEP 1: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and spray an 8 x 8 pan with cooking spray (you can also butter it if you like).

STEP 2: In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

STEP 3: In a separate bowl, combine bananas, egg, melted butter and milk.

STEP 4: Stir the banana mixture into the flour mixture just until combined. Gently stir in the chocolate chips.

STEP 5: Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the cake is lightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with no wet batter or crumbs. (A little melted chocolate on the toothpick is perfectly fine!)

STEP 6: Vow not to listen to children who swear they will eat all the fruit you buy. Until the next time they ask. In the meantime, enjoy some banana chocolate chip cake!

🤔 Recipe FAQs

🍽️ Want to round out your snack?

Here are a few of my favorite things to enjoy with a square (or two) of banana cake!

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Banana Chocolate Chip Cake

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Got ripe bananas and some chocolate chips? It’s time to make banana chocolate chip cake with this easy recipe!

• Author: Kate Morgan Jackson
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Total Time: 45 minutes
• Yield: 16 servings 1x
• Category: Dessert
• Method: Oven
• Cuisine: American
• Diet: Vegetarian

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8×8 inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, combine bananas, egg, melted butter and milk.
4. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture until just blended.
5. Stir in chocolate chips.
6. Pour batter into pan and bake until toothpick inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 30-35 minutes. (It may have some melted chocolate on it but no crumbs)
7. Vow not to listen to children who swear they will eat all the fruit you buy. Until the next time they ask.

Notes

• • Bananas: You need nice ripe bananas for this recipe so they will mush up softly into the cake batter.

• • Chocolate Chips: You can use either regular or mini chocolate chips.

• • Baking Powder: It’s always good to check the expiration date on baking powder. Expired baking powder won’t give us the nice fluffy texture we want for our banana cake.