Chocolate and banana cake

Just one look at this chocolate and banana treat is enough to know it won't stay in the cake tin for long.

Ingredients:

• 100ml sunflower oil plus extra for grease
• 175g caster sugar
• 175g self raising flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda
• 4 tbsp cocoa powder
• 100g chocolate chips or chunks
• 175g very ripe bananas
• 3 medium eggs, 2 separated
• 50ml milk

For the topping:

• 100g milk chocolate
• 100ml sour cream or cream fraiche
• handful dried banana chips, roughly chopped

Method:

Heat the oven to 160C or 140C for fan oven. Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin with baking parchment (allow it to come 2cm above top of the tin).

Mix sugar, flour, bicarb soda, cocoa and chocolate in a large bowl.

Mash the bananas in a bowl and stir in the whole egg plus 2 yolks, followed by the oil and milk.

Beat the egg whites until stiff. Quickly stir the wet banana mixture into the dry ingredients, stir in a quarter of the egg whites to loosen the mixture, then gently fold in the rest. Gently scrape into the tin and bake for 1 hr 10-15 minutes, or until the skewer inserted comes out clean.

Cool in the tin on a wire rack. To make the icing, melt the chocolate and soured cream or cream fraiche together in a heatproof bowl over a pan of barely simmering water. Chill in the fridge until spreadable.

Remove cake from the tin, roughly swirl icing over and scatter with the banana chips.