There are recipes that begin with a shopping list, and there are recipes that begin by standing in front of the cupboard hoping something sweet will materialise.
This was the latter.
The girls and I came home from nursery one afternoon and I had an overwhelming craving for chocolate cake. There was no chocolate in the house. No cooking chocolate. No carefully assembled collection of baking ingredients.
What we did have was a cheap box of chocolate cake mix from the corner shop, two increasingly brown bananas, butter, icing sugar, cocoa powder and — as is increasingly the case at the moment — eggs. Our chickens have been laying enthusiastically, so I am forever looking for somewhere to put them.
That seemed enough.
For the cake
- 1 box chocolate cake mix
- 2 very ripe bananas
- 2 eggs
- A little milk, enough to loosen the batter
- Preheat the oven to 160°C and line a shallow roasting dish or oven tray with baking paper.
- Mash the bananas in a bowl. Add the eggs and cake mix, then combine with a hand mixer.
- Add milk a little at a time until the batter is smooth and pourable, but not runny. I didn’t measure it; this is a vibes-based quantity.
- Pour the batter into the lined dish and smooth it to the edges.
- Put an ovenproof dish of hot water on the bottom shelf of the oven. Bake the cake above it for about 15–20 minutes, checking from 15 minutes. A skewer or knife inserted into the centre should come out without wet batter attached.
- Leave the cake to cool completely before frosting.
For the cocoa buttercream
Made with much the same scientific precision:
- About 200g softened butter
- About 2½ cups icing sugar
- Cocoa powder, added gradually to taste — mine was nearly a cup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
- A tiny splash of milk, if needed
Beat the butter on its own until it becomes very pale, soft and creamy. Gradually beat in the icing sugar, then the cocoa and vanilla. If it gets too stiff, add a small splash of milk and beat again until fluffy.
Spread it generously over the cooled cake and cut into squares.
A note on photographic evidence
There should probably be a beautiful photograph here of the untouched tray bake. There isn’t.
The girls and I made this together after nursery, and it was apparently too good for any of us to remember I might want to photograph it until several pieces had already disappeared.
So this is the cake as it actually existed: slightly wonky squares, buttercream everywhere, a few pieces missing, and the knife still beside it. Which, thinking about it, is probably a better photograph anyway.