Banana Chocolate-Chip Tea Cake Recipe (2024)

This tea cake turned out light, moist and delicious. One of the best things I have ever made. I am baking more and I think the reason this turned out so well was b/c I beat the butter and sugar for a long time, like 5 minutes. This cake also had a crispness on the outside which I liked.
Also, I have a convection oven so cooked it at 340° for 40 minutes. When tested for doneness, it was cooked through.

A really delish cake and not leaden: As another comment notes, beat the heck out of the sugar & butter, then add eggs one at a time; beat really well after each one. I didn't sift the dry ingredients, but gave them a good stir w/ a whisk after measuring (whisked) flour w/ spoon-into-the-measuring cup method, so nice and light (added ~1 t. kosher salt). The cake supported extra banana, maybe about 1.25-1.5 cups. Bake on the longer side. Was a big hit for a special family dinner.

Substituted white chocolate chips for the semisweet chocolate morsels. The cake had a nice banana/vanilla taste. The method of adding the dry ingredients all at once makes the recipe easy. Substituted whole milk with a splash of rice vinegar for the buttermilk. Used butter to grease a nonstick pan. The cake is definitely sweet.

This cake was absolutely leaden! The ingredients looked great, and Nigella's name was a guarantee--It thought-- but it was really probably the most dreadful cake I have ever made. I followed the recipe exactly, and I am an experienced cook. The end result did look like the picture, but I would never make it again.

I've been making this for years. Sometimes I add more banana which just makes it more moist. Also, if you don't have buttermilk, sour cream is just as good.
Every time I have "aged" bananas I make this cake.

We love this cake! I usually use 3 bananas, sub in some almond powder for part of the flour and go gentle on the sugar. I do find the baking time a bit long with a convection...

Made a marbled version, adding 3 Tbs King Arthur Flour's cocoa rouge, 1 tsp espresso & 3 oz toasted pecan pieces to the chocolate half of the batter; and 3 oz. chic chips to the 'vanilla' half. Then alternating spoonfuls of vanilla & chocolate in the cake pan.

This is similar to a recipe I veganized from a Pillsbury cookbook more than 20 years ago. Tossing the chocolate chips with a little of the flour helps keep them from sinking in the batter. I use it to make a loaf cake or cupcakes. I've also made it as a layer cake and put a vanilla sauce the Pillsbury recipe called for between the layers and then poured a chocolate ganache icing over top. I can be a great family snack or an elegant dessert good for dinner parties.

I made this today and followed the recipe exactly with one exception. I used peanut butter chips in place of chocolate, as I love the PB/banana combination. It was perfection. I served it warm and everyone wanted seconds.

The first time I made this, I oiled the pan as instructed and large chunks of cake stayed in the pan when turning out the cake. I used butter and flour the second time and it unmolded beautifully. Seems most recipes call for three ripe bananas so this is nice to have on hand when you only have two to use up. Nice cake!

My family loved this cake and it freezes well. This is definitely a keeper. I used three bananas instead of two and it was very moist.

This cake is good, but maybe not great. Added a 3rd banana per the notes of others, so no problems on dryness. Just a little underwhelmed with the flavor. Without the buttermilk, it'd have zero richness, and I feel like it needs more depth somehow. The crispiness of the outside was the best part for sure.

I disagree with those who complained about the texture. I’ve made it several times and find it be very light and moist. I do agree that adding an extra banana and using sour cream in place of buttermilk makes it a bit more dense and moist. Either way, it’s a keeper.

Really lovely! Even using gluten free flour! Even tho I accidentally left out the vanilla and emergency-added it at the end! Excellent advice from others to whip up the butter and sugar for 5mins—thank you.Using bean-based GF all purpose flour 1 tsp xanthum gum, decrease baking time by 3-5 mins.

I made this with hints from the reviews, beating the butter and sugar well, and adding an extra banana. I thought it was pretty dry and flavorless. Maybe my bananas needed to be dead ripe or I baked it a tad too long. Won’t make again.

I doubled the banana. delicious.

This is a winner. Made the following adjustments:-3 bananas vs 2-tossed the chips with a very small amount of flour and they did not sink in the cake-added 2 TB of cooled coffee-used 1/4 cup of plain 0% fat Greek yogurt vs the sour cream-added cup of chopped walnuts

We loved this cake. Swapped buttermilk with milk and cream of tarter. Great texture, low sweetness which we liked. I think it needed a dash of salt though. The outsides the best.

This is a lovely cake. Not too sweet. Added a bit of salt & cinnamon. Used sour cream, added before dry ingredients; also used mini chips and 2 defrosted bananas. You can really feel the lightness of the cake in the batter, if you take care to really beat the sugar, butter, eggs & other wet ingredients. Meant to add nuts, but forgot, will try that next time. Convection at 350/35 mins. Just yummy. Will definitely make again.

I made this gluten free and lower sugar and it was really good. Here's how I did it:Butter/flour for pan prep; cake unmolded beautifullyUsed 1/2 c. sugar + 1/2 c. erythritol granules - plenty sweet!3 bananas as suggested by othersUsed 1 c. almond flour + 1 c. gf flour for full texture without being heavyUsed 1/4 c. full fat plain yogurt, as that's what I had on handPulsed the chocolate chips in the food processor (less heavy)The cake was done at 45 minutes. My family raved!

Forgot to say I used stevia sweetened chocolate chips.

This is a favorite cake to bake, eat, and share. I’ve been making it for 16 years without a glitch. Delicious if you substitute sour cream or just milk for sour cream. Even better with 2.5 or 3 bananas. I see from other comments that bakers are wise to beating the sugar, butter, and eggs like crazy. Remember to gently beat in your flour or your cake will be tough. Over the years, I have used half a cup of chocolate chips and half a cup of chopped walnuts with outstanding results.

This is a favorite cake to bake, eat, and share. I’ve been making it for 16 years without a glitch. Delicious if you substitute sour cream or just milk for buttermilk. Even better with 2.5 or 3 bananas. I see from other comments that bakers are wise to beating the sugar, butter, and eggs like crazy. Remember to gently beat in your flour or your cake will be tough. Over the years, I have used half a cup of chocolate chips and half a cup of chopped walnuts with outstanding results.

Blaming my multiple posts on cabin fever, but my rating on this just went from 3 stars to 4 the day after baking. The recipe said to serve slightly warm or at room temperature, but I found that the following day, when the crispy exterior crust became the same texture as the rest of the cake, and there was no warmth to it, that I liked it so much more! Go figure!

This was just okay. I think the thing that turned me off was the crisp exterior. Supposed to be that way I guess because my exterior looked just like the photo, but it wasn’t for me. Other than that it was fine but nothing special. I did beat the butter and sugar for almost 5 minutes as suggested by others, and had no issue that some noted with choc chips sinking.

Question—step 2, are you still using the mixer? And is it add bananas then mix, add dry ingredients then mix again, add buttermilk then mix for the third time?

This was really good!

Made it with 3 bananas as I always feel Indian bananas tend to be smaller than the US/UK ones ( same for eggs). Didn’t have a Bundt pan so divided it into 2 medium loaf pans. I reduced the sugar by 20gms as I prefer a slightly less sweet in my cakes and anyways the semi sweet chocolates were there for balance. The cake was amazing - light, moist, banana-y. I’ve made tons of banaa cakes usually trying for healthier substitutions but I loved the old world simple tea cake feeling on this one.