Moist espresso banana cake filled with chocolate chips and topped with an espresso cream cheese frosting.
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mocha banana cake with chocolate espresso frosting
I absolutely LOVE all things espresso and mocha, especially when combining those things with baking. When you are looking for something to do with those sad bananas resting on your counter and are tired of making banana bread, try this instead! This mocha banana cake features an espresso chocolate chip banana cake that gets topped with a chocolate espresso cream cheese frosting. It’s seriously so delicious, extremely moist, and ridiculously easy to make! The only “fancy” ingredient you may need for this is espresso powder. So let’s get into it! ☺︎
expert baking tips
Weigh your ingredients:
My recipes are all written in grams because it is the most accurate way to bake. When you use a kitchen scale, you ensure that your baked goods turn out as close to the written recipe as possible. Plus, the cleanup is way easier when using a scale! I will provide standard cup measurements but please note that I have not tested the recipe using cup measurements and therefore can not guarantee your recipe will come out how mine did. Here is my favorite kitchen scale.
Be careful when mixing the cake batter:
When you over-mix your batter, you create more gluten in the batter which will make your cake go from light and moist to dense and chewy. Only mix in the dry ingredients until that last bit of flour dissapears.
Use room temperature ingredients:
This is super important for allowing the batter to come together smoothly. You’ll want to take your ingredients out of the fridge about an hour before baking to allow them enough time to come to room temperature.
Keep a close eye on the cake while it bakes:
Cakes and cupcakes like to go from under-baked to over-baked super quickly so it is important to keep a close eye on them.
A note on oven temperature:
Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature and might not always actually be at the temperature they claim to be at. If you love to bake like I do, I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer. They are super helpful for letting you know when your oven might be lying to you! I use this one.
ingredients for mocha banana cake –
mocha banana cake:
- Banana: you will need ~3 medium sized very ripe bananas for this recipe. Only ripe bananas will work here. Bananas that are still very yellow/green will be less sweet and add way less moisture to the cake.
- Unsalted butter: for tenderizing the cake and giving it that classic buttery taste. You can substitute in salted butter, just omit the extra salt from the recipe.
- Light brown sugar: for sweetening, flavor, and for moisture.
- Eggs: for moisture, structure, and binding the batter together.
- Vanilla: for flavor – vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract will work here.
- Sour cream: for moisture and for keeping the cake tender. You can substitute in buttermilk or greek yogurt if needed.
- All purpose flour: the structure of the cake. I would not recommend using cake flour as the cake is already super fluffy and tender using the all purpose.
- Baking powder: for helping the cake rise.
- Salt: for balancing and bringing out the sweetness of the cake.
- Espresso powder: I highly recommend getting some espresso powder for this recipe. Espresso powder is essentially instant espresso, much more concentrated and more finely ground, making it better for baking applications. However, if you are unable to get your hands on espresso powder, instant espresso or instant coffee will work great here as well!
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips: for texture and for having delicious chocolate throughout the cake of course! Use your favorite chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, or chopped baking chocolate here.
chocolate espresso buttercream:
- Dutch process cocoa powder: to make it a chocolate frosting.
- Cream cheese: the base of any good cream cheese frosting! I used full-fat cream cheese but you can use low-fast as well.
- Unsalted butter: adds some structure to the frosting. Feel free to use salted butter here, just be sure to omit the extra salt if using!
- Salt: helps balance and bring out the sweetness of the buttercream
- Espresso powder: for flavor.
- Powdered sugar: sweetens and thickens up the frosting.
how to make mocha banana cake
Here are a few images showing the process of making the mocha banana cake. You can find the full recipe and instructions at the end of the blog post!
- Mash the banana.
- Whisk together all of the wet ingredients.
- Fold in the dry ingredients.
- Bake the cake.
- Beat together the chocolate espresso frosting ingredients.
- Frost the cake, slice, serve, and enjoy!
mocha banana sheet cake recipe q&a
Can I bake this cake in a different sized pan?
You could bake this in a 8″ cake pan, 9″ cake pan, or 9″ square pan. Note that in a 9″ pan the cake will be a tad shorter and will probably take a few minutes less to bake.
can I make this cake ahead of time?
The cake itself can be made and stored at room temperature – I probably wouldn’t recommend baking it more than one day before you want to frost and serve it just for the best freshness. You could make the cream cheese frosting ahead of time and keep it stored in the fridge as well – you would just have to have it come to room temperature & re-whip it before frosting the cake.
how to store this banana sheet cake
Once you frost the cake, you’ll want to keep it stored in an airtight container in the fridge, where it will keep well for about 3 days. I recommend only frosting the pieces you’re going to eat right away to avoid needing to store the cake in the fridge, where it will dry out faster.
tools and ingredients:
You can find all my favorite tools and ingredients that I use on my Amazon Storefront page, here!
other recipes you might enjoy:
did you make this recipe?
I’d love to see and know your thoughts! please leave a comment and review below, and tag me on instagram @freshbeanbakery. #freshbeanbakery
Mocha Banana Cake
Ingredients
Mocha Banana Cake
- 113 g unsalted butter (½ c.)
- 250 g banana mashed (~3 medium bananas)
- 150 g light brown sugar (¾ c.)
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 60 g sour cream (4 tbsp.) room temperature
- 170 g chocolate chips (1 c.)
- 190 g all purpose flour (1 ½ c. + 1 tbsp.)
- 2 tsp. espresso powder
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. salt
Mocha Cream Cheese Frosting
- 200 g cream cheese (¾ c. + 2 tbsp.) room temperature
- 100 g unsalted butter (7 tbsp.) room temperature
- ¼ tsp. salt
- 270 g powdered sugar (2 ¼ c.)
- 24 g dutch process cocoa powder (¼ c.)
- 1 tsp. espresso powder
Instructions
Mocha Banana Cake
- Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C. Butter and line an 8" square pan* with parchment paper.
- In a small microwave safe bowl, melt the butter in 20 second intervals, stirring after each interval until it's just completely melted.
- In a medium sized mixing bowl, mash the banana. Add in the melted butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and sour cream. Whisk vigorously until the mixture is well combined.
- Add in the flour, espresso powder, baking powder, and salt. Whisk together until only a few flour streaks remain. Add in the chocolate chips, then mix just until no flour streaks remain.
- Pour the cake batter into the prepared cake pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
Mocha Cream Cheese Frosting
- In a large mixing bowl, with a hand or stand mixer, beat together the cream cheese, butter, and salt until the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Add in half of the powdered sugar and beat until combined. Then, beat in the rest of the powdered sugar along with the cocoa powder and espresso powder.
- Beat on low speed for 2 minutes, or until the mixture is well combined.
- Once the cake has fully cooled to room temperature, top it with the frosting. Slice, serve, and enjoy!