- 3/4 cups unsalted butter
- 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup ground walnuts
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup buttermilk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups (5-6) very ripe bananas
- 3 eggs, lightly beaten
- 3/4 cup chopped walnuts
With a rack in the middle of the oven, preheat it to 350F. Grease a 10″ round cake pan and set aside. I used a springform pan because that’s the only one I have that’s 10″ and it made removal very easy.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat. Then add the chocolate and stir until both are completely melted. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool for about 10 minutes.
In the meantime, whisk the flour, sugar, ground walnuts, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. Add the buttermilk, vanilla and mashed bananas and stir until just combined. Set aside.
Stir the eggs into the chocolate mixture which should have cooled slightly by this time. Continue to stir until the eggs and chocolate are well combined, then add the chocolate mixture to the flour mixture and stir until well combined (again!).
Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle the chopped nuts over the top. Return to the oven and continue baking for another 25 minutes or a bit longer, until it passes the toothpick test.
Allow the cake to cook on a cooling rack for about 15 minutes before removing it from the pan. Let it cool completely before serving with milk or whipped cream.