Chocolate Banana Cake with Pretzel Streusel

Whoa, time warp.  Wasn’t it just April the other day??  I don’t know how this June thing happened, and I gotta tell you, I’m not really on board with it.  I’ve been a little distracted – okay, a lot distracted – by, you know, life . . . little babies who aren’t so little anymore (one year old TODAY!), piles of laundry that never get any smaller, grocery shopping and weeding and all that stuff that just sucks up the minutes and hours of every day.  And, okay, there might have been some Pinterest, and some Instagram.  And some Scrabble.

There has been cooking too – stacks and stacks of these for the munchkin, plenty of this to stash in the freezer for quick pasta dinners, this and this for a brunch and a baby shower.  I’m working hard at mastering the art of the three ingredient cookie (egg, sugar, nut butter) and hope to post my four favorite flavors here soon.  (Unfortunately, *soon* is a relative term.)

Meanwhile, I’ve got to bake up a batch of these for the upcoming birthday celebration, and pile the frosting high . . . it’s about to get messy in here!

P.S. I know that in the case of most blogs, the photography actually gets better over time.  This is most definitely NOT the case for C&T (my apologies!).  The above is an Iphone photo, and a bad one at that.  Life with a toddler known as The Anti-Napper will do that to you.  Que sera, sera.

One year ago on C&T: who could forget?

Two years ago on C&T: Polenta with Sausage and Mozzarella, Graham Cracker Sandwiches, and Triple Chocolate Cookie Brittle

Three years ago on C&T: Southwestern Black Bean and Corn Salad, Beer Can Chicken, and Fro-Yo

Chocolate Banana Cake with Pretzel Streusel Topping

Originally I flagged this recipe when I was looking for ways to tame my ongoing freezer problem (although, with only 2 bananas in the recipe, I’m going to need to make 11 more cakes!)  It looked like a nice change of pace from banana bread – and hey, it has chocolate in it, bonus!  The cake itself is good – light, with a delicate crumb and a nice balance of flavors.  But it was the lightbulb in my brain screaming “pretzel streusel” that sealed the deal.  That tail end of a bag of pretzels had been staring me down for a week, and nothing but whirling it in a food processor with some butter and sugar would do.  I highly recommend you add my *secret ingredient*, the Momofuku chocolate crumbs, but you can certainly get by with just tossing in a touch of cocoa powder or a handful of chocolate chips.

Chocolate Banana Cake recipe on Baking Bites blog.  Prep the cake as directed, then spread the streusel evenly on top of the batter in the pan prior to baking.

Pretzel Streusel Topping

This topping is the perfect addition to the chocolate/banana cake base with its mix of salty, sweet, crunchy, and buttery.  I’m willing to bet it would be equally good as a topping for your favorite coffee cake, crumb cake, or quick bread. 

• 1/2 stick (4 Tbsp.) butter, cold, cut into pieces
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup small pretzels, broken into pieces
• 1/2 cup Momofuku chocolate crumbs (recipe here, but you should buy the cookbook, it’s AWESOME!), or 1 Tbsp cocoa powder, or a handful of chocolate chips
• dash cinnamon

Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender, process until fully mixed and crumbly.  Use immediately.