This Chocolate Chip Banana Cake is the perfect way to use up overripe bananas. Made with almond flour, lightly sweetened with coconut sugar and extra ripe bananas, and chocolate chips of course! Grain free and paleo friendly.
Why You’ll Love This
If you love banana bread and chocolate chips, you will love this skillet cake! It’s basically like a dense, soft and moist banana bread recipe, studded with plenty of chocolate chips. It also happens to be gluten-free and dairy-free friendly.
And if you’ve made this paleo recipe for my reader favorite Almond Flour Banana Bread, this recipe is very similar. It’s also great for serving a crowd.
Oh, and if you’ve tried made my Deep Dish Pumpkin Cookie Skillet, this recipe was adapted from that so you know it’s good!
Whether you follow a paleo diet or not, this amazing dessert is for everyone.
Recipe Ingredients
- overripe bananas – make sure they’re super spotty! Using just ripe bananas won’t give you the best flavor or sweetness.
- coconut sugar (or brown) – you can use whatever granulated sugar you’d like here.
- cashew butter – cashew butter provides a more neutral flavor, but you could also use almond butter.
- oil – use a neutral flavor oil like avocado or light olive oil. If using coconut oil, make sure it’s melted and cooled, and the rest of your ingredients are room temperature.
- eggs – I did not test this recipe with a vegan sub but it may work.
- vanilla extract – always a good addition to banana bread
- almond flour – almond flour works best here but if you can’t do almonds, cashew meal would likely work as well.
- cinnamon – just a hint for the classic banana bread flavor
- baking soda & salt
- chocolate chips & chunks – I like a mix for lots of chocolate in every bite!
Recommended Tools
- glass mixing bowls
- measuring cups and spoons
- cast iron skillet
An Easy Paleo Dessert
This banana chocolate chip cake is one of my favorite paleo dessert recipes to make. It’s easy, healthier, and you can use your favorite dietary friendly chocolate chips. I like to use a mix of chocolate chips and chunks for the perfect bite each time.
This recipe comes together in one bowl using a whisk or electric hand mixer and standard baking tools.
First start by mixing all of the wet ingredients together – the nut butter, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Then add in the mashed bananas.
Then add in the dry ingredients – almond flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
Finally fold in the chocolate chips and bake for about 25 minutes or so, until the top is nicely golden.
BAKING TIP: to prevent the top from getting too dark, you can cover with foil at the 20 minute mark, then check again at 25-30 minutes.
Spotty Bananas = More Flavor
You’ll want to make sure you use extra-ripe bananas here, even spottier than the ones in the photo above, if you really want a sweet banana flavor.
The best thing is to let the bananas go almost black and store them in the fridge (use within one week) or freezer for later. You can also speed up the process by roasting them in the oven at 350ºF for 25 minutes.
Using extra spotty bananas will be perfectly rich and sweet for this skillet cake. And if you don’t have too much of a sweet tooth, you could probably even omit half of the coconut sugar.
To be honest, I typically buy a bunch of bananas, forget about them and then throw them in the freezer before I *completely* forget about them.
Storing
This banana chocolate chip cake stores well at room temperature, just be sure to use within 3-4 days.
You can also freeze the banana cake. Allow the cake to cool completely and store in an airtight container, label it and enjoy within three months.
More Paleo Desserts
- Grain-Free No-Bake Cookies
- Paleo Chocolate Bread
- Raw Walnut Brownies with Fudge Frosting
- Cassava Flour Brownies
Let me know if you make this recipe by leaving a comment and rating below! It helps others learn more about the recipe too. Xx Ashley
How to Make…
Skillet Banana Chocolate Chip Cake
This Paleo Banana Chocolate Chip Skillet Cake is the perfect way to use up those overripe bananas. Made with almond flour, lightly sweetened with coconut sugar and delicious with your favorite scoop of ice cream.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Diet: Gluten Free
- Yield: 12 1x
- Scale:
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup creamy nut or seed butter (I used cashew)
- 1/3 cup coconut sugar (or brown)
- 1/4 cup avocado oil
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup mashed banana (about 3 small overripe bananas)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups blanched almond flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup dairy-free dark chocolate chips
- 3 ounces dairy-free dark chocolate bar, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Grease 10″ cast iron skillet with butter or oil; set aside.
- Mix wet ingredients: In large bowl using electric mixer, beat together nut/seed butter with sugar on medium speed until well combined. Add oil and eggs mixing on low speed then add vanilla and mashed banana mixing on low-medium speed until smooth.
- Add dry ingredients: Add in almond flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and mix on low speed. Batter will be somewhat thick. Gently stir in chocolate chips and chocolate chunks. Pour batter into greased skillet using spatula to spread evenly across top.
- Bake cake for 25-30 minutes, or until edges are lightly golden – cover top with foil at halfway mark to prevent too much browning. My cake was nice and golden on top but fully cooked throughout the middle.
- Cool & serve: Allow cake to cool for at least 20 minutes before cutting and serving. Serve with ice cream for a delicious treat or on it’s own as a healthy snacking cake. Enjoy!
Recipes Notes:
FLOUR: This recipe was not tested with other flours, it is specifically developed for almond flour. Adapted from my Paleo Deep Dish Pumpkin Cookie Cake.
CAKE PANS: I have not tested this recipe using other cake pans. Cast iron holds heat differently, so if you plan on making this in an aluminum pan, you will likely need less baking time. Watch after 20 minutes.
Nutrition Information:
- Serving Size: 1/12th
- Calories: 338
- Sugar: 19
- Sodium: 263
- Fat: 23
- Saturated Fat: 4
- Unsaturated Fat: 11
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 26
- Fiber: 4
- Protein: 8
- Cholesterol: 31
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Cassie Thuvan Tran says
Saw this on Instagram and I HAD to check out the recipe! Not at all disappointed, haha <3 I agree that you should use really overripe bananas for this skillet cake! You may not even need as much sugar if they're SUPER overripe 😀
Kate says
I used 3 extra ripe bananas, only 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup tahini, and 1/4 cup coconut oil. I had to bake it for 40 minutes, and even then the middle was still gooey (but I like it that way). Makes a large batch.
★★★★
Kate says
I mean 1/2 cup tahini!
Ashley says
Thanks for sharing Kate!
Kate says
Your Instagram post had me hooked, and I had to make this skillet cake tonight (along with the apple oat bars, yum!), This cake is oh-so-easy and divine! I only had 2 bananas, but it still had a lovely banana flavour. I used almond butter, and cut the sugar in half, but made up for that by adding extra chocolate chips. Topped with salted caramel ice cream, my hubby and I were in heaven….
★★★★★
Kate says
Apple cinnamon oatmeal cookie bars…
★★★★★
Caren says
Hi! Just put this in the oven and realized I didn’t add vanilla–it’s in the ingredient list but not the directions. How much and when to add? I’ll do it next time. Thanks!
Ashley says
Hi Caren, Thank you for your comment and bringing that to my attention! So sorry about that. Updating to fix – it’s 1 tsp vanilla added with wet ingredients.
Brianna says
So good! Super moist and a perfect mix between a cookie and cake. I only had odds and ends of gluten free flours at my house, so I used 1.5 cups almond flour, 1 cup gluten free flour and 0.5 cup of oat flour and it turned out perfect. I will make this again!
★★★★★
Ashley says
Awesome Brianna! Thanks so much for sharing your substitutions 😀 It helps me and others looking to make the recipe.
And thank you for the review!! <3 I appreciate it more than you know.
Deepa Tolia says
Hi, this looks delicious! Can you substitute flax eggs to make this vegan? Wondering if anyone has tried it.
Love following your blog and insta, always inspiring recipes and congratulations to you and Mr. FMK!
Ashley says
Hi there! I have a similar recipe using pumpkin where I believe readers have had success with the flaxseed eggs. I would try 2 Tablespoons flaxseed meal mixed with 3 Tablespoons water.
And thank you so much! That means a ton 😀
Sara says
This recipe is amazing! Thank you! I made a few changes and it was delicious. I did 1 cup oat flour and 2 cups almond because I like the oat texture when I make banana baked goods. Next time I’m trying half and half and I’m sure it’ll be great! I only had 2 very ripe bananas on hand and it was the perfect flavor so I might always stick to two! And finally, I only did 2 TBs coconut sugar and it was the perfect sweetness with the chocolate chips! Highly recommend this, it did not last long here, will continuously be making ☺️
I also only have a 12 inch round cast iron so I used my 8 inch griddle cast iron and it worked haha. I’m sure a 12 inch would work but it would be a bit thinner and slightly less baking time.
★★★★★