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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Zxcbx says
I tried it without the chocolate chips, because I feel like the sign of a mediocre recipe is that it depends on topping or additives for its flavor, rather than using them to compliment an existing flavor. And it didn’t taste like chocolate. It tasted more like bananas, but it was still good. On the first day it was so fudgy you could barely take it out of the pan. But by the end of day 2 it was getting kind of dry and rubbery. Nevertheless, it was quick, easy and tasted good for the amount of work put into it.
nanny says
Have made this cake four times and it is delicious. Disappears in no time. Great for people with allergies to dairy and eggs. My grandsons have these allergies and I visited them last weekend and made this for them and it vanished . They just couldn’t get enough .
nanny says
Your recipe says 2 bananas . How much would that be in cups?
Shira says
Hey trish, it looks soo good! I didn’t get what size of pan to use? 8*8 sm? Or inch? Thank you!
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
I used an 8-inch!
Marshall says
Hello, quick question, for the unsweetened cocoa, should I use it powder form or blocks of unsweetened cocoa? Thanks so much!
Hoteamom says
Made this yesteday and served it today for brunch for Mother’s Day.
It was well liked by all, nice healthy cake. I will be making this one again. Thank you!
Karen Flamard says
I made this cake today, using 1-1 GF flour. It came out beautifully moist and chocolaty. Thanks so much for a healthier, delightful cake!
Rani Sinha says
The cake stays moist and the flavor deepens after sitting overnight. I used more cocoa to mask the banana flavor. Also added some cinnamon and a touch of leftover coffee.The texture is nice, not at all gummy, with a satisfying chew. I put the sugar, applesauce, and banana in the microwave, because I felt the banana was on the green side. I wanted to blend the flavors as much as possible before the baking process. This ranks with the King Arthur Cake Pan Cake recipe for outstanding healthful cake. Thank you so much for publishing.
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
So glad you enjoyed the recipe and love your tip about adding coffee – absolutely going to do that next time I make it!
Theresa says
Thank you for the recipe, I made this yesterday and it turned out great. Thank you
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Wonderful Theresa! Have a great weekend!
Alena says
I just took out it from oven. I baked around an hour and toothpick still came out moist. I guess it can not be dry. Or I’m wrong?
Mariel says
I desperately needed to use up an old banana and leftover applesauce so I made this for my office and I’ve never had so many people ask me for a recipe! Couldn’t have been more perfect.
BTW, if you only have 1 banana you can double the applesauce, which is what I did. I also added cinnamon buttercream frosting. Thanks so much for this recipe!
Trish Allin says
I have made this chocolate applesauce banana cake several times and it always turns out moist, chocolately and deliciousl My husband loves it. I make my own applesauce and use 72 % dark chocolate in it. Also, because I make my own almond milk, I have lots of pulp left over from which I make almond flour so I usually substitute 1/2 cup of the flour with this. I use whole wheat flour too, not all purpose. I cut the sugars down to 1/3 cup overall. I realize that I’ve changed from the original recipe but I still think of it as yours with a bit of tweaking.
Thanks for the wonderful recipe.
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Great name 😉 I LOVE all the changes you made to make it work for YOU. That’s awesome! It’s a favorite around here too!
Denise says
Oh my my my! This cake is unbelievably delicious…thank you so much for sharing this fantastic recipe. It gets even more moist and chocolatey a few days after baking…mmmm…and it freezes like a dream. At 191 calories, I don’t even feel guilty eating a piece…or two. Two BIG thumbs up!!
Allison says
I just made this substituting monk fruit in the raw for the sugar and coconut flour for the AP, and it was an absolute disaster. It’s just a dry, crumbly mess so I can only recommend sticking to the recipe as written. 🙁
Trish - Mom On Timeout says
Yeah, I always suggest sticking to the recipe as written 🙂
Peggy says
Can’t tell you how many times I have mad this cake. My husband had heart surgery two years ago and this is our cake to have aND not feel guilty eating it.