Ingredients:
All-purpose flour: 1+3/4 cups
Granulated sugar: 1+ 1/2 cups
Cocoa powder: 3 /4 cup
Baking soda: 1+1/2 tsp
Salt: 1/2 teaspoon
Baking powder: 1+1/2 tsp
Eggs: 2 large (preferably room temperature)
Bananas: 3 ripe, mashed
Warm water: 1 cup
Milk: 1/2 cup
Vegetable oil: 1/2 cup (safflower or canola)
Vanilla: 1+1/2 teaspoon (extract or powder)
Chocolate Frosting Ingredients:
Semisweet or bittersweet chocolate: 8 ounces (227 grams) cut into small pieces (about 1+1/4 cups chocolate chips)
Whipping cream: 3/4 cup
Directions:
1. Grease and flour two 9-inch round pan. Or, cut two circles of parchment paper, the size of the pans, grease the pans, cover with parchment paper and grease again. Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
3. In a large bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and baking powder together, set aside. Whisk in the sugar.
4. In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs, mashed bananas, water, milk, oil and vanilla extract.
5. Add the wet ingredients (egg mixture) to the dry ingredients (flour mixture) and stir or whisk until just combined. To get the best result try stirring on the same direction using a spatula; do not overmix. The batter is going to be quite thin.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pans. Bake for about 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Avoid opening the oven door in the first 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for about 10 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
7. After the cakes reached the room temperature, remove them from the pans. If you used parchment paper, take it off. If you can't take the cakes off the pans easily, try loosening the edges with a sharp knife.
8. To make the chocolate frosting: Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized stainless steel or heatproof bowl. Set aside. Heat the cream in a medium sized saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil. Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Stir until smooth. Let the frosting cool for few minutes and then beat until soft and fluffy.
9 .Place one of the cakes in the serving dish and cover the top with 1/3 of the chocolate frosting. Place the other cake on top of the first one and cover the whole cake with the rest of the chocolate frosting. Decorate with whipped cream, your favourite frosting or slivered almonds if you wish.
