This one-bowl Chocolate Banana Applesauce Cake is made without oil or butter and is perfect for snacking! Beautifully moist and perfectly decadent, you won’t even miss the frosting!
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As much as I love banana bread, and believe me, I love it A LOT, sometimes I want something different. Something like this cake for instance. Incredibly moist and fudgy this cake is almost brownie-like in consistency and texture. The bold chocolate flavors mingle beautifully with the banana and the gooey pockets of melted chocolate chips are pure heaven.
This cake is perfect for snacking on since it’s made without oil or butter – applesauce only! I make it in an 8×8 baking dish so there’s just the right amount of cake for a couple of day’s worth of snacks. Or one day if we’re really hungry.
The boys enjoy this cake with a big, cold glass of milk and I have to say that’s my favorite way to indulge as well.
There’s no need to frost this cake either. It’s perfectly sweet with being overwhelmingly so and the sprinkling of chocolate chips on top of the cake serve as the “frosting”. I’ve yet to hear a complaint about missing frosting.
The flavors of this cake only get better with time and the cake stays beautifully moist for several days – even up to a week if it happens to last that long.
Next time you have a couple of ripe bananas lying around, try this cake out instead of banana bread. I know you’ll just love it!
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Chocolate Banana Applesauce Cake
Ingredients
- 2 bananas very ripe
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup applesauce no sugar added
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Spray 8x8 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
- Mash bananas in a medium size bowl.
- Stir in sugars, applesauce, water, and vinegar until thoroughly combined.
- Stir in flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt just until combined.
- Fold in 1/3 cup of chocolate chips.
- Pour batter into prepared dish.
- Sprinkle remaining chocolate chips on top.
- Bake for 33-37 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cake comes out clean.
- Let cool, slice and serve.
Nutrition
Our favorite cake recipes:
No Bake Banana Cream Pudding Cheesecake
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Linda says
Can I use frozen bananas?
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
I haven’t tried that but I’m sure if you let them thaw it might be okay? They have to be soft to mix in with the batter… Are you freezing them for smoothies?
Roxanne Little says
I added about a ¼ cup more flour cuz the better seemed a bit too. It was delicious!!!!!!!🥳🥳🥳🥳🎉🥳🎉🥳
Suzanne says
This looks so good! What a great way to still enjoy cake and stick to the good stuff!
Sara L Marx says
I had every ingredient for this recipe & it came together SO quickly! And it was a big plus that it tasted very chocolatey & was a wonderful way to use up those ripe bananas.
I would definitely add this to my recipe file!
Linda says
I made this today using three small very ripe bananas. It was delicious! Will definitely make again!
Elmer Zink says
I made this Saturday night.. my bananas were really overripe and had been frozen. I used 1/3 cup cocoa.. I toothpicked it after 34 minutes and it came out chocolatey so I left it in another 5 minutes and then clean.. I think the first time I actually stabbed a chocolate chip. Cake was great just not as moist as the your photo looks.. and probably because of the extra 5 minutes in the oven..
With me eating it it was 3/4 gone by Sunday night.. and gone by Monday night. It was good.
I am making another and in the oven at this moment. I didn’t have any bananas so just used 1 1/2 cup applesauce, and switched the brown sugar & white sugar amounts along with the 1/3 cup cocoa. We’ll see how it turns out.. Great I am sure.. I was going to add 1/4 cup or more oil to make it even more moist, but will try that next time..
Elmer Zink says
Just to clarify. That was 1 1/2 applesauce instead of 2 over ripe runny bananas and 1/2 cup applesauce.
Gemma says
I sprinkled the top with chopped walnuts, chips and and a sprinkle of sugar. Yum! Also baked it in a glass 7×9 dish
Rita says
Can I make it in a 9×13?
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
You can but you will need to reduce the baking time and know that it of course will be thinner 🙂
0)
Jenny says
I made this recipe this past week and it was a delicious cake! It’s *incredibly* moist, with the perfect amount of sweetness. I used a mix of white, dark and milk chocolate chips (I had a combo bag handy) that gave it a little variety between bites.
Thank you so much for sharing this!
Serena says
Do you think this would work if I replaced the bananas with extra applesauce? I feel like most fruit purees are interchangeable, but I’m not sure I want to attempt it for my church’s upcoming potluck. 🙂
Fina says
You think thats healthy? Putting sugar in everything, and not even in small amounts? You couldn’t be more wrong honey:)
Millie says
Can I use gluten free flour?
Yurika Jakobs says
Hi, please let me know what is the recipe to make the apple sauce? How many apple do we need for 1/2 cup?
I would like to try it as my daughter is allergy to egg white. Thank you
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
I used store-bought unsweetened applesauce 🙂
Jennifer says
I have a ton of store bought cinnamon applesauce (my daughter no longer likes applesauce). Do you think the taste would be too different if I used cinnamon applesauce. I just want to use it instead of having to throw it out.
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Yes, it would absolutely taste different, but not bad 🙂 More like a Mexican Chocolate Cake I think which would be yummy!