Arty Bees Recipes

Deluxe Triple Chocolate, Double Decker, Banana Cake

This is the ultimate cake for chocolate lovers, and these days it is the only cake I make on a regular basis. (I only have time to bake a couple of times a year these days and my beloved, Batman is getting rounder - I can't think why...)

To those old kitchen hands who think that this recipe sounds familiar, it's probably because it is.
At its core it is the Banana Cake from the Edmonds "Sure To Rise" Cookery Book, a classic in New Zealand cooking, that has served literally generations of Kiwis.

You can still get new copies, ringbound, at most supermarkets, but they are half the size and full of such useful things as ...
"Pancakes - take 1 packet of Edmonds Ready Pancake Mix and add water..."

You get my drift. As a result the older editions are highly prized and we will never throw one out at the shop even when it is falling to bits.

My own copy is the 1955 edition. I know this because some helpful soul in the dim past has written this on the contents page for me. This is helpful because the title page is long gone, as is the back cover and the last two pages of the last section entitled "Vegetables". (I've never missed them)
It does still have the announcement on the front inside cover though. Brilliant.

"Housewives!
Send your cooking problems to
Edmonds Cookery Service Dept."

Anyway, enough waffling, and sorry about the Imperial Measurements to those readers born since 1967 — I would suggest calling your Mum for a translation or looking it up online if it's giving you problems.

Robynne's Deluxe Triple Chocolate, Double Decker, Banana Cake aka Banana Cake by Edmonds with amendments by Me.

I always double the original ingredients in this recipe

Cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs, and the mashed bananas which have already been mixed with the melted chocolate to a goopy dark brown consistency.
Then the add the soda dissolved in boiling milk, and then stir the chocolate chips gently through the mixture.

Lastly add the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder, previously mixed and sieved for lumps.

Edmonds suggests that the original recipe should be cooked in 2 greased cake pans, which gives a nice light fluffy cake.
Robynne's Deluxe Triple Chocolate, Double Decker, Banana Cake is not a light fluffy cake.
It's moist, heavy and melts in your mouth and is best eaten with a spoon and some ice cream. Therefore, even though I double the recipe, I only cook it in 2 (not 4) large greased cake pans. (They should be at least 20cm in diameter)
I also tend to pour the mixture into the cake pan and spread it so that it lies concavely in the pan - ie. thinnest in the center. This gives a much flatter cake and helps ensure that it will cook through evenly.

Bake for 20-30 minutes at 350F / 180C testing from about 20 minutes onward to see if they are cooked in the center. Fan ovens rock.

Edmunds suggest filling with whipped cream and sliced banana, which is quite good, but here are some other suggestions...

For ease of transportation and/or longer refrigeration, should you decide not to share with others...
Stick the two flat (bottom) cake sides together using mashed banana while still warm and place on a large plate.
Don't chop off the top of the cake to level it up unless you're really fussy and just can't help yourself — it's a waste of cake and it gets crumbs all through the topping.

Spread a good layer of Chocolate Buttons across the top of the cake and pop back into the warm oven for a minute or so. The chocolate can then be spread with a knife like icing and will later set into a hard crust of unadulterated chocolate that will seal in the moisture and stop your cake from drying out or getting crusty on the outside.

For super-indulgent-to-be-eaten-that-day and doesn't have to be carried anywhere... (I hate the way cream sticks to the plastic wrap and not the cake)
Let cool and stick the two flat (bottom) cake sides together using mashed banana and whipped cream and place on a large plate. Ditto above.

When you are about to serve the cake, melt some chocolate buttons, and slightly over-whip some cream. Carefully pour the melted chocolate into the whipped cream and stir gently through. Be very careful about the temperature of your chocolate — too warm will melt your cream into a sodden mess, too cool and the chocolate will not mix through properly and shatter as it sets into little chocolate splinters through the cream. Spread all over the cake and decorate as you please.

Lastly invite lots of friends over to help you eat it.

PS. See here for other things to do with bananas (Ed. note: this link is not as scary as you might think, I'm afraid.)

Hilary's Fudge

1 packet vanilla wine biscuits
50 grams butter
1 tblesp baking cocoa
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup sugar
4 tblesp milk
handful sultanas

Bring ingredients to the boil. Add crushed biscuits and sultanas. Mix together. Add more milk if too dry. Put into shallow container/tray and leave to set.

Easy peasy. What more needs to be said?