Chocolate Banana Bread

I’ve been on a bit of a mission nowadays to hide fruits in K’s meals (he really doesn’t like them. But they are so good for you!). My latest attempt to fruit-cept is none other than this chocolate banana bread, which is moist and dense from the bananas, but chocolatey enough to mask the pure taste and smell of raw bananas. It’s also not-too-sweet so you don’t feel like you’ve eaten an extremely sinful slice of brownie and it has fruit! So it’s good for you, right?

The most important factor in making banana bread is making sure your bananas are over-ripened. They may look a little grody (not too grody, mind you. If not they may be inedible) with brown spots and patches, but they make fantastic banana bread. This is also good for those times when you’re left with those odd bananas forgotten on the counter! Over ripened bananas have a mellow sweetness and moistness that is essential for banana bread.

Ingredients

• 3-4 medium, over ripe bananas (I used 4 because I had 4, but 3 goes perfectly well)
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white caster sugar
• 1/2 cup oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 cup plain flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup plain yoghurt or milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract or paste

•••••

1. Peel and mash bananas.
2. In a large bowl, combine sugars with oil.
3. Whisk in eggs, one at a time.
4. Add in the vanilla and whisk to combine.
5. Fold in mashed bananas.
6. Combine flour, cocoa powder and baking powder in a bowl.
7. Fold in half of the flour mixture, followed by half of the yoghurt or milk.
8. Fold in the second half of flour and yoghurt/milk.
9. Pour into a loaf tin and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for about 40-45 minutes until skewer inserted has no trace of wet batter. As the banana content is quite high, the skewer would not be completely clean but will definitely have sticky traces.
10. Cool and cut into generous slices!

The verdict? Well, he ate it. But he still doesn’t like bananas. Guess I’ve got to hide it better. But for the banana-loving person (such as myself!), it was soooo satisfying.

Because it’s chocolately and slightly fudgy, it tastes fantastic warmed up and served with some vanilla ice cream. Like a brownie. But healthier!

Finally, here’s the printable recipe card!

x, W