Sourdough Discard Banana Chocolate Cake

Two baking projects that have exploded in popularity during this COVID period is banana bread and sourdough! I've been seeing so many posts of these on Instagram and I have to admit, I'm a circuit baker too! The amount of bananas that go mushy and the amount of sourdough discard I have is insane so what better way to clear both these items than make a sourdough discard banana bread! 

This banana bread is airy, light and super moist, and there was absolutely no taste of the starter, thankfully! It was really good fresh out of the oven and also really good cold. A keeper for sure and it uses up a good amount of both sourdough discard and also the amount of bananas can be customized! 

Ingredients:

- 113g softened butter 

- 75g brown sugar

- 75 white sugar

- 250g all purpose flour

- 1/2 tsp baking soda 

- 1/2 tsp salt 

- 1 tbsp vanilla extract 

- 2 eggs

- 5 small bananas* (see note) 

- 125g sourdough starter discard

- chocolate chips or drops

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius and prepare your pan with baking paper

2. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together

3. Beat the butter at high speed and add the brown and white sugar. Beat on high until super fluffy 

4. Add eggs, vanilla and bananas, making sure everything is incorporated well.

5. Fold in the flour mixture and the sourdough starter discard until there are no dry pockets left 

6. If adding chocolate chips, add and fold together with the flour or if using chocolate drops, place some batter at the bottom of the pan and place the chocolate drops and then fill the rest of the pan with the banana bread batter to create a chocolate layer in the middle of the loaf!

6. Pour batter into pan and bake for 60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean with a few moist crumbs but no wet batter. Take care not to overbake it to prevent dry banana bread.

7. Allow to cool until just warm before enjoying

*note: 4 medium/large sized bananas can be used instead, the amount of banana can be customized as well! Add more bananas if you want more banana flavour! 

If using frozen bananas, thaw out at room temperature or in a microwave if you're in a hurry and drain any liquid