Banana cake with ground hazelnuts and milk chocolate chunks

One of my most favorite everyday cakes

Mar 02, 2025

∙ Paid

Sometimes I have nothing more to say than “Here, I made a cake. You can make it too and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did”.

That would be cool. Many people do just that, they don’t write long blog posts to accompany their recipes. I, on the other hand, enjoy writing so when I find myself struggling for words, I don’t like it.

So in the spirit of not beating myself too much about it, I’ll just keep it short and sweet. This is an everyday cake; don’t you hate that term by the way, “everyday cake”? It implies it’s not special but I think it is, it’s quite delicious actually and that’s what matters.

It has the combination of flavors that I once dreaded, banana and chocolate, yet now I love, and there are some ground hazelnuts in there that give it a slightly crunchy mouth-feel. A sprinkling of demerara sugar on top makes it playfully crispy and did I mention the chocolate is milk chocolate? Yes, and let me tell you, that’s a very good thing.

I haven’t used milk chocolate in ages, but it’s so perfect in this cake, it really complements the rest of the ingredients well, and as it oozes out of a warm piece, it’s extremely tempting.

The crumb is dense and moist and the aroma of the banana will drive you crazy before the cake cools down enough to eat. You don’t have to eat it right then and there though, because the next day it’ll taste infinitely better as the flavors would’ve had the chance to develop.

I served it with crème fraîche sprinkled with a whiff of cinnamon and it was delightful, but a straight-up piece, along with a hot cup of coffee, will make the best breakfast ever.
It did this morning.

P.S. As you know, I much prefer to express myself through music rather than words, so I'll leave you with this song that I'm listening to all day today. Join me.