Sticky Banoffee Chocolate Upside-down Cake

This cake really is what it sounds like: pure indulgence and heaven!! It's not one to be taken by the shovel load but daaammn it's so good and definitely a real treat. The cake is a bit of a mouthful to say (and that's not even all of it! There's also hazelnuts for that added crunch because why not, and I absolutely love 'em!) I could have called it a pudding rather than a cake as it is based on that british classic - sticky toffee pudding. 

I adapted this recipe from one of my favourite cookbooks of the moment - John Whaite's 'Perfect Plates in 5 Ingredients'. You may remember I wrote quite a lot about this earlier on the year as I did work experience on the shoot for his book last year (hence why I'm obvs biased towards it.) If you want to read more about this or see one of his other recipes, click here.

So, you'll notice that this recipe is no longer a '5 ingredient' cake but I just feel the chocolate and nuts add something extra to the cake but of course if you don't have them or prefer to make it a nut free version then it works just as fine without either. You could also change it up a bit and switch the hazelnuts for walnuts or pecans, or both?! Go nut crazy!
You'll probably struggle to resist the temptation of leaving the cake for a day. But since John insists...I managed to wait and boy does it pay off. Yaaassss. Patience is the key here so once it cools down outta the oven, wrap it in cling film (plastic wrap) and please forget about it till tomorrow. The cake will gain moisture and become more gooey toffee-like with time which surely is a must!!  AND due to this, it's a laster, it will keep for 4-5 days so you can keep having a piece throughout the week, although I do recommend not to eat all of this on you own. (fortunately for my flat mates.)

Sticky  Banoffee  Chocolate  Upside-down  Cake

Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

120g pitted dates 120ml boiling water pinch of salt 220g light brown sugar 4 ripe bananas 2 large eggs 145g unsalted butter 200g self raising flour 50g hazelnuts, halved 65g dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces 

Method 

Grease and line a 20cm round cake tin. Finely chop the dates and put them into a bowl with boiling water and a pinch of salt. Leave them to soak for 30 minutes. 
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Scatter 50g of the sugar over the base of the prepared cake tin. Peel 3 bananas and slice in half lengthways. Place these into the base of the tin, cut-side down, on top of the sugar. 
Peel the remaining banana and mash it up with a fork. Beat together with the eggs, butter, flour, remaining sugar and soaked dates with their water. Once it's a smooth mixture fold in the halved nuts and chopped chocolate pieces until evenly dispersed. 
Pour the batter on top of the bananas and level it out with a spatula. Bake in the preheated oven for 1-1hr 10 mins. You'll know when it is cooked because a skewer inserted will come out clean. 
Once the cake is cooked, remove and leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before running a knife around the edges to release it more easily from the tin. Turn out from the tin, peel off the baking paper making sure not to dislodge the bananas. Some of the toffee will pour down the sides. Leave to cool completely and then wrap in clingfilm to mature for a day. Serve the following day, optional- with whipped cream.