Once you start making banana bread regularly, you kinda can’t stop. I mean, I actually buy extra bananas I have no intention of eating just to make banana bread. Sometimes you need a little variation though, and injecting every element of this loaf cake with chocolate is the best way to do just that – trust me! The bananas lend the familiar fudgy texture, but the taste is chocolate and nothing but. And it’s really quite simple… At this rather tense time in third year the bakes have to be simple as the essay questions most certainly are not. Sigh, you guys have read about the deadline struggles for the last year and a bit so I won’t bore you. Just know, many tens of thousands of words (not including this blog post) have been written over the last month! 😦 Having said that, I’m not sure I’m ready to leave the security of full-time education and enter the big bad world… *heavy breathing*
Anyway, find a large-ish bowl and a whisk and let’s get this chocolatey show on the road.
Makes two small loaves in 1lb tins or one larger 2lb loaf:
3 overripe bananas (the gross kind that no one wants to eat)*
115g salted butter, melted
150g light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
125g plain flour
60g cocoa powder
150-200g chocolate chips (milk, white or dark)
* If you desperately want to make banana bread and can’t wait for your bananas to get overripe, pop them in the oven whilst it’s warming up. They will be deliciously brown and sweet.
1. Heat the oven to 160FAN. Grease a loaf tin with butter and line it with baking parchment leaving some overhang on the longer sides.
2. In a large bowl, mash the bananas and whisk in the melted butter, egg, sugar and vanilla until combined. Sift the flour, bicarb and cocoa powder over the top and fold in. Stir through the chocolate chips and bake for 50 minutes to an hour for one loaf, or 35-40 minutes for two smaller loaves.
3. The cake is done when a skewer or toothpick inserted in to the centre comes out mostly clean with no wet batter on it. A few crumbs are fine as this is a moist, fudgy cake. If you feel like being super indulgent, a sprinkling of icing sugar over the top is welcome.
4. Make a nice golden cup of tea, cut yourself a healthy slice of cake and enjoy your afternoon. (This step is imperative for the success of the recipe).
Adapted from here.
Banana Bread Hack:
Make a couple of loaves on a Sunday morning, slice in to thick 1 inch slices and freeze them in between layers of parchment paper the day you bake them. During the miserable, wet mornings in the following week, simply remove a slice and microwave until soft and gooey again. Ultimate feel-good breakfast with no effort!
Some recipes to get you started:
BakedByH 