OOZY OATY CHOCONANA CAKE

 

My cherry jam filled Bakewell cake seems to be going down a storm online. Thank you all! But what if your not a fan of Bakewell flavours. Well I've switched up the recipe for chocolate lovers out there to make this delicious banana loaf filled with oats and pecans filled with a gooey chocolate sauce in the middle which will ooze out of ever slice. Top that with an oaty, sugary topping well; who could resist that really! 

I've used a jar of chocolate sauce for the filling that was gifted to us and it was the inspiration for the melty middle. If you don't have chocolate based gifts knocking about use one of those squeezy bottle of chocolate sauce you can buy for squirting over ice cream, it's equally scrummy.

Now you can use chocolate chips in this recipe too however I much prefer chopping up bars of dark chocolate instead. You can get better quality chocolate in that way and cheap bars as dark chocolate are often less expensive than chips. You can also chop all different sizes of chocolate giving the inside a more fabulously marbled look plus you'll get different textures all the way through the cake which make for a more exciting treat.

Don't worry if you don't have pecans either. Chopped hazelnuts or even a ready chopped bag of mixed nuts make for a great alternative. 

So here you have it chocolate fans. Give this a good bake and you'll be in chocolate heaven in no time!

Choconana Cake

175g Butter

175g Golden Caster Sugar

2 Eggs
250g Peeled Banana
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

175g Self Raising Flour

50g Oats (And Extra For The Top)

175g Dark Chocolate
75g Finely Chopped Pecans 

3 Tbsp Chocolate Sauce
1 Tbsp Demerara Sugar

1. Ovens on! 170 degrees (150 fan) and line a greased loaf tin with baking paper.
   
2. Place the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs one at a time, beating between each until well combined.
3. Mash the bananas into a paste and then add them into the mix with the vanilla extract. Beat again until well combined.
4. Add in the flour and oats and gently fold through the batter until there are no flour streaks. Chop the chocolate into small bits (they don't need to be the same size, see above.) and throw them in with the chopped pecans. Give everything a good mix until all well combined.
5. Line a loaf tin with baking paper and scoop in half of the batter. Along the centre of this spoon in the chocolate sauce. Don't spoon the sauce near the edge of the tin otherwise it will ooze out and cause your loaf to stick to the tin.
6. Add in the rest of the batter and make sure all the chocolate sauce is covered. Zig-zag a knife through the batter to createthe marbling effect. Make sure you cover any chocolate that might pop out the top during this and smooth over the top of the batter.
7. Sprinkle over a handful more of the oats and the demerara sugar and place in the oven for around 1 hour and 10 minutes until the top is golden brown and an inserted skewer comes out nice and clean. Check the cake after around 50 minutes and if the top is going too brown then loosely cover with some tin foil.

Once baked remove from the tin and allow the cake to cool for ten minutes in the in before transferring to a wire to cool. Cut yourself a big slice and you should see the chocolate marbled throughout the cake and the saucy centre should be oozing out the centre. 

Serve with a dollop of whipped cream and a big old mug of tea. Sit back and be whisked away to chocolate paradise. 

Choconana Bliss!