Whole Wheat Banana Peanut Butter Cake

Bananas and peanut butter with Reese's pieces and chocolate chips in a whole grain snack cake. This is a terrific way to use up leftover bananas for a sweet treat.

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It is rare in my house that a bunch of bananas get consumed, one at a time, each at their peak (which, for me, is without a tinge of green or a speck of brown to mar that pretty yellow peel). Sometimes I feel like the bunch stays bright green for days, and then a matter of the few hours I'm asleep and out of the kitchen each night, they magically turn a mottled brown.

Don't misunderstand, I love the flavor of an actual ripe banana, and if I want to bake or smoothify when I hit the store I'll look first for marked down "ripe" [NOT OVERRIPE, THEY ARE PERFECTLY RIPE sorry to shout] bananas. But eating out of hand, public banana style, I like my bananas a pure yellow.

I am nattering on about bananas so I can tuck some photos here and there because I've got 2 different photo sessions with this cake. Last summer, at the conclusion of marching band camp, we had probably close to half a case of nicely ripe bananas left. They were too far gone for me to eat. Too far gone on a Friday afternoon to make it to the Foodbank Monday morning for subsequent distribution. Too far gone to act on when the kid needed to be hauled to the next activity. [As an aside, my son had 4 things going on last summer between sports camps and school camps and life forums and college visits, and all 4 of them happened in less than a 3 week stretch. Oy.]

These bananas needed to be used or put up right away, so the other volunteers and I divvied them up and I took home an armful. Did you know you can freeze bananas by opening the freezer door/drawer and chucking the banana inside? Simple as that. No need to wrap or peel or dice or any of that. Nature made the perfect freezer wrap for bananas and I don't mess with nature too much. If you have an organized freezer you may wish to place the banana, but my freezer is usually so full that I open it a tad, hope nothing cascades out, chuck in the bananas and close it up quick.



I made a Peanut Butter, Spinach and Banana smoothie right away (need that to power me through the day) and froze the rest. Later, when I was looking for a reasonably wholesome after school snack, I baked this cake. [Then I made it again when I realized I hadn't written down any of the ingredients or instructions. No complaints from my kids for the recent redo.]

For more recipes using bananas, please see my Banana Recipes Collection. Now with more than muffins and pizza and smoothies and soup! This collection is part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me who, while eating seasonally and locally, like to enjoy the occasional banana. [Though not one purchased at my farmer's market, because that just leaves me scratching my head as to if I purchased it from a grower or a distributor, and I prefer to purchase from the folks who grow the food when I visit the farmer's market, you know?]


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Whole Wheat Banana Peanut Butter Cake

Ingredients

• 2 eggs (largish, whatever I get from my chicken-owning friends or the farmer's market)
• ½ cup oil (I use vegetable oil)
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ⅓ cup peanut butter (I'm a fan of Mighty Maple (Amazon affiliate link)
• 4 ripe bananas
• 2 cups (8 ounces by weight) white whole wheat flour (Amazon affiliate link)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ teaspoon Baking Spice (or cinnamon, or a blend of Cinnamon and nutmeg)
• ½ teaspoon salt (I use kosher)
• ¼ cup mini Reese's pieces (or the large kind, I've used both) + more if you'd like to decorate
• ¼ cup mini chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare a 9 inch square pan by spraying with oil spray or rubbing with a spare butter stick wrapper to grease the bottom and sides. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl (I used my hand mixer) beat the eggs, oil, brown sugar, vanilla, peanut butter and bananas until very well blended. 
3. Dump the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt on top. 
4. Mix together on low speed until combined, then beat for 1 minute until batter is smooth.
5. Stir in Reese's pieces and chocolate chips.
6. Spread batter in prepared pan. Top with additional candy if you'd like. 
7. Bake for 20 minutes until top springs back lightly when touched, is golden brown in color, and a toothpick not inserted into a hunk of banana or a Reese's piece comes out clean. Good luck with that.
8. Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes, then dig in. Or serve at room temperature. Your choice.