Banana Orange & Choc Chip Cake

So what's the difference between a banana cake and a banana bread loaf? Apparently it's the icing. And I think the cake is meant to be sweeter than the bread, or at least that's how I would make it. But since I have never been a fan of icing, I improvised and made a banana cake sans icing. This is based on a recipe called Banana & Lime Cake from the book Easy Baking.

Banana, Orange & Choc Chip Cake

1.5 cup plain flour
1 cup wholemeal flour
small pinch of salt
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp grated orange rind
3 small bananas, mashed with ~2 tbsp orange juice
1 egg
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup applesauce
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp ground cinnamon
choc chips

1) Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius. Line cake tin with baking paper
2) Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Stir in sugar and orange rind. Mix well.
3) Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the egg, banana, olive oil, applesauce, vanilla, cinnamon and choc chips. Mix evenly.
4) Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the surface. Sprinkle extra choc chip over the top if desired. Bake in a preheated oven for 40-45 minutes, or until firm to touch and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
5) If you wish, you can prepare a topping by mixing 125g sifted icing sugar and 1-2 tsp orange juice to form a soft but not too running icing. Stir in some grated orange rind and drizzle the icing over the cake while it is still warm.

This cake is quite a dense and filling one, probably due to the amount of bananas. (I already feel satisfied after eating one slice!!) They also help keep the cake moist, despite the reduced amount of oil. Next time I would probably use the rind from a whole orange and more orange juice as the flavour needs to be a bit stronger to cut through all that banana richness. Overall, another easy and delicious recipe :P