Banana Chocolate Walnut Cake

From the kitchen of Carly

Dense, moist banana cake studded with dark chocolate chunks and toasted walnuts. The bittersweet chocolate cuts through the sweetness while yogurt keeps everything tender. A straightforward, satisfying cake that tastes far better than it should given how simple it is.

Banana Chocolate Walnut Cake

Layered banana cake with a walnut-chocolate streak running through the middle. The trick is mashing your bananas until they're almost liquid and using the full yogurt to keep everything tender and moist. That bittersweet chocolate and toasted walnut filling adds actual flavor here, not just sweetness, so the cake tastes like something.

Prep
n/a
Cook
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Total
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Servings
4
Difficulty
medium

Ingredients

4 servings

  • 2 1/4 cupall-purpose flour
  • 1 tspbaking soda
  • 1/2 tspsalt
  • 1 stickunsalted butter, softened, plus 2 tablespoons, melted and cooled
  • 1 cupsugar, divided
  • 2 largeeggs
  • 1 1/4 cupmashed very ripe bananas
  • 2/3 cupplain whole-milk yogurt
  • 1 tsppure vanilla extract
  • 1bar 70%-cacao bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
  • 1 cupwalnuts , toasted , cooled, and coarsely chopped
  • 1/2 tspcinnamon

Instructions

  1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 375°F. Butter a 9-inch square cake pan and set it aside.

  2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.

  3. In a medium bowl, beat the softened stick of butter with 3/4 cup of the sugar using an electric mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition, then mix in the bananas, yogurt, and vanilla. The batter will look curdled at this point; that is normal.

  4. Drop the mixer to low speed, pour in the flour mixture, and stir just until it disappears into the batter. Do not overmix.

  5. Combine the chocolate, walnuts, cinnamon, melted butter, and remaining 1/4 cup sugar in a small bowl and toss until evenly coated. Spoon half the banana batter into the prepared pan and smooth it out, then scatter half the chocolate mixture over the top. Spread the remaining batter carefully over that filling and finish with the rest of the chocolate mixture.

  6. Bake 35 to 40 minutes, until the top is golden and a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack for 30 minutes, then turn it out, flip it right side up, and cool completely before slicing.

Tips from the kitchen

  • Toast your walnuts before chopping. They taste twice as good and the dryness helps them stay crunchy rather than getting soggy from the banana batter.
  • Don't panic when the batter looks curdled after adding bananas and yogurt. That's normal and it'll bake up fine.
  • A wooden pick is your friend for doneness. The cake should spring back slightly when you touch it, and the pick should come out clean or with just a few moist crumbs.

Variations

  • Skip the chocolate entirely and use 1 cup of chopped dates with the walnuts for a gentler, more caramel-forward cake.
  • Go dark: swap half the walnuts for chopped pecans and bump the cacao percentage to 85% if you want a more assertive finish.
  • Add 1 teaspoon of instant espresso powder to the flour mixture. It won't taste like coffee, just makes the chocolate flavor pop.

Make ahead and storage

Wrapped well, this keeps 3 days at room temperature or 4 days in the fridge. You can freeze it up to a month, thawed and sliced if you want to grab individual pieces.