This recipe for a Banana Bundt Cake with Chocolate Filling creates a simple, yet irresistible, dessert. The cake is full of banana flavor and has a surprise tunnel of sweet chocolate running through the middle. Simple to make and an ideal dessert for casual Sunday brunches or pot-luck dinners.
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What I love about Bundt cakes
Bundt cakes requires minimal decoration, but can be easily enhanced with a simple glaze, powdered sugar, or a drizzle of chocolate ganache. Additionally, the shape of the pan allows for more even heat distribution, which helps the cake bake uniformly.
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Filling ingredients
- Brown Sugar: use light or dark brown sugar.
- Chocolate chips: use bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips.
- Banana: cut into ¼" slices to layer in the cake tunnel.
See recipe card for quantities.
Cake ingredients
- Flour: sift flour before using to eliminate any lumps.
- Baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon
- Butter: use unsalted butter at room temperature. The butter and sugar are creamed together to help aerate the cake. Cold butter will not aerate as well as room temperature butter.
- Granulated sugar
- Eggs: use room temperature eggs. Cold eggs can cause the butter to curdle when creating the cake batter.
- Sour cream: use full-fat, room temperature sour cream.
- Bananas: use ripe bananas. Mash bananas well before adding to the cake batter.
See recipe card for quantities.
Ganache ingredients
The chocolate ganache is spread or drizzled over the top of the cake. This step is optional - but it adds an additional punch of chocolate to the banana Bundt cake.
- Butter: use unsalted butter.
- Heavy cream: you may use whole milk or half & half to replace the heavy cream.
- Chocolate chips: use bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips.
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
Prepare a 12-cup Bundt cake pan by spraying generously with baking spray. Alternatively, combine ¼ cup vegetable oil, ¼ cup flour and ¼ vegetable shortening. Using a pastry brush, apply generously to the Bundt cake pan.
Make the cake filling: combine ½ cups of chocolate chips and ⅓ cup of brown sugar in a small bowl. Set aside.
In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside. (note: sift flour if necessary to remove any lumps)
Place butter and granulated sugar in a mixing bowl. Using a handheld or stand mixer, beat the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy (approximately 2 minutes).
Add eggs to the mixing bowl and mix until well combined. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
Mash bananas until no large lumps remain. Use a fork or potato masher to do this.
Add mashed bananas to the mixing bowl and mix until well combined. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
Add ½ of the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt) and mix on low speed until combined. Place the sour cream in the mixing bowl and mix on low speed until combined. Add the remaining dry ingredients and mix on low speed until combined.
Pour half of the cake batter into the prepared Bundt cake pan. Spread evenly and make a 'well' in the center using a dinner spoon. Slice a banana into ¼" slices and layer into the well you just created. Next spoon the chocolate filling over the banana slices taking care to keep the filling in the well.
Add remaining cake batter and smooth the top. Bake for 50 - 55 minutes at 350° F. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. You may also check for doneness using an instant read thermometer. The internal temperature of the cake should be 190℉.
Note: if the cake top begins to burn, place a sheet of aluminum foil over the cake and continue baking until done.
Allow cake to cool for 15 minutes and flip over onto a cooling rack. Remove cake pan and allow to cool for another hour. After cooling, move cake onto a serving platter. If desired, add a topping such as chocolate ganache in the recipe card below.
Variations
This Banana Bundt Cake is delicious on its own but feel free to change the recipe to suit your needs. Consider the following:
- Chocolate chips - want to up the chocolate flavor of this cake? Stir 1 cup of mini chocolate chips into the batter after adding all the dry ingredients.
- Gluten-free - this cake works well using a 1 to 1 gluten-free flour replacement. King Arthur and Bob's Red Mill are both good brands for gluten-free flour.
- Walnuts - toasted and chopped walnuts are a wonderful addition to this cake. After making the cake batter, stir in ⅔ cup of walnuts for some added crunch and flavor.
Equipment
Use a high-quality 12-cup Bundt cake pan for this banana Bundt cake.
A stand-mixer works best for this recipe but a hand-mixer may also be used.
Storage
Bundt cakes will stay fresh for longer periods compared to lighter, airier cakes. This is helpful when you need to prepare a dessert a few days in advance. Store the cake at room temperature wrapped in foil or plastic for up to 3 days.
To freeze, wrap the cake well and freeze for up to 2 months. When ready to serve, remove from freezer and allow to defrost at room temperature (approximately 2 hours).
Top tip
This Banana Bundt Cake is fairly simple to make and not much can go wrong except when you unmold it. Take the time to properly prepare your cake pan before creating the cake batter. Use one of the following methods:
- Generously spray the pan with baking spray making sure to get the spray into any little crevices. Using a paper towel, remove any excess spray that has pooled in the crevices.
- Prepare 'cake release' by combining ¼ cup flour, ¼ cup vegetable shorting and ¼ cup vegetable oil in a mixer. Mix until the ingredients are well combined. Using a pastry brush, apply the cake release to the inside of the pan.
FAQ
Can I make this Banana Bundt Cake with Chocolate Filling gluten-free?
What is the origin of the Bundt cake?
More banana desserts
Love desserts with bananas? Checkout these recipes:
📋 Recipe
Banana Bundt Cake with Chocolate Filling
Equipment
Ingredients
Cake Batter
- 3 cups All-purpose flour (sifted)
- 2 teaspoons Baking soda
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- 1 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
- 1 ⅔ cup Granulated sugar
- 1 cup Unsalted butter Softened
- 2 large Eggs Room temperature
- 1 cup Sour cream, room temperature Room temperature
- 1 ½ cup Ripe bananas, mashed approximately 3 bananas
- 1 medium Ripe banana, sliced for layering in cake
Chocolate Filling
- ⅓ cup Brown sugar, light or dark
- ½ cup Chocolate chips, bittersweet
Chocolate Ganache (optional)
- ⅔ cup Chocolate chips, bittersweet
- 2 Tablespoons Heavy cream (may also use whole milk or half & half)
- 2 Tablespoons Unsalted butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F
- Prepare a 12-cup Bundt cake pan by spraying generously with baking spray. Alternatively, combine ¼ cup vegetable oil, ¼ cup flour and ¼ vegetable shortening. Using a pastry brush, apply generously to the Bundt cake pan.
Chocolate Filling
- Combine ½ cups of chocolate chips and ⅓ cup of brown sugar in a small bowl. Set aside.
Cake Batter
- In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside. (note: sift flour if necessary to remove any lumps)
- Place butter and granulated sugar in a mixing bowl. Using a handheld or stand mixer, mix the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy (approximately 2 minutes)
- Add eggs to mixing bowl and mix until well combined. Scrape the sides and bottom of bowl as needed.
- Add mashed bananas to mixing bowl and mix until well combined. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- Add ½ of the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt) and mix on low speed until combined.
- Add sour cream to mixing bowl and mix on low speed until combined.
- Add remaining dry ingredients and mix on low speed until combined.
- Pour half of the cake batter into prepared Bundt cake pan. Spread evenly and make a small 'well' in the center using a dinner spoon.
- Slice a banana into ¼" slices and layer into the well you just created. Next spoon the chocolate filling over banana slices, taking care to keep the filling in the well.
- Add remaining cake batter and smooth the top.
- Bake for 50 - 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. You may also check for doneness using an instant read thermometer. The internal temperature of the cake should be 190℉. Note: if the cake top begins to turn too dark, place a sheet of aluminum foil over the cake and continue baking until done.
- Allow cake to cool for 15 minutes and flip the cake over onto a cooling rack. Remove cake pan and allow to cool for another hour. After cooling, move cake onto a serving platter.
Chocolate ganache (optional)
- Place chocolate chips in a medium-sized heat-proof bowl.
- Place butter and heavy cream in a small saucepan. Place on stovetop and bring to a low boil over medium heat, stirring often.
- Removed saucepan from heat and pour over chocolate chips. Let set for 5 minutes to soften chocolate, Stir until smooth. (note: if chocolate does not melt completely, heat in the microwave for 30 seconds at 50% power. Stir until smooth)
- Drizzle or pour chocolate ganache over the banana Bundt cake.
Jean says
I added chocolate chips per your suggestion and it couldn't have been better! We loved it.