Banana Chocolate Caramel Minis, #Chocolate Party

Roxana of HomeBaking.com, and the monthly #Chocolate Party may be a hostess with the “mostest” chocolate recipes on the web. Check out her collection if you need inspiration. Her March challenge to fellow food bloggers is to marry caramel and chocolate in one treat. In my mind that translates to a sweet that’s cute and petite. Why? In my hometown of Tokyo, caramels and chocolates come packaged as pretty little presents.

Japanese Chocolates have feminine appeal - pretty and bite-sized.

So, keeping with tradition, I packed petite banana cakes with mini chocolate chips. And with a tiny bit of caramel, I decorated the tops.

Petite Japanese caramels. The purple candies are made from sweet potato.

SimplyRecipe.com’s Elise Bauer’s Banana Cake serves as the foundation. Elise’s recipe is divine. However, I thought I’d add almond flour and wheat flour for a nuttier feel.  Greek yogurt was my sour cream substitute. I added a pinch of pumpkin pie spice, too. And of course,  a big heap of mini chocolate chips to meet the Chocolate Party challenge.

The Ninja Baker's Banana Chocolate Caramel Minis

Banana Chocolate Caramel Minis

Adaptation of Elise Bauer’s Banana Sheet Cake recipe
from SimplyRecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• ¾ cup wheat flour
• ¼ cup almond flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 cup white granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup of mashed ripe bananas (2 large or 3 medium bananas)
• ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
• Heaping 2/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Baking time 16 minutes
Yields 83 mini cakes

Directions: 
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) .
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and pumpkin pie spice.
3. Beat together in a mixer the butter and sugars. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Mix in the vanilla and mashed bananas.
4. Mix in half of the flour mixture, then the Greek yogurt, followed by the remainder of the dry ingredients.
5. With a mini ice cream scooper, fill lined mini muffin tins with batter. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 16 minutes, or until firm on top and bounces back when pressed. The tops should also be golden brown.
6. For the icing on the cooled cakes, I whipped up Ree Drummond’s Easy Caramel Sauce. 

A dot of caramel was dropped on some cakes. Others I generously covered the surface. A single chocolate chip serves as garnish.

A trio of banana chocolate caramel treats.

The syrupy caramel topping does provide a perfect compliment to the nutty cake with a snap of spice. I brought my Banana Chocolate Caramel Minis to dance class. They stole the spotlight away from some other cupcakes (which I thought were pretty tasty) and brought lots of smiles.

The other #Chocolate Party goers have also produced some great treats, too. A selection of the finest caramel and chocolate combos follow. To join the party:

• Blog about your chocolate treat.
• Your recipe must include the two ingredients chosen by the hostess. 
• Include a link back to the Chocolate Party page at Roxana’s Home Baking. 
• Your recipe must be published during the current month.

Wishing you presents, petite and grand, of happiness.