Moist, delicious chocolate and nut banana loaf. A play on the usual banana bread by adding chocolate, this has turned something a little over-done into something a little magical.
Sometimes the best recipes are the spontaneous ones. Although for those of you who know me well, you will know that spontaneity is not one of my top qualities! So it really says something to me when a recipe is quickly pulled together, only to be a roaring success. So much so that in the last 4 weeks, I’ve made this recipe three times! And no, there are still only two of us at home, and, yes, we ate it all each time…
I do love a banana bread cake, but recently I’ve been trying to improve my diet a little (being at home now with all these cakes is definitely starting to take it’s toll on my waist line…Safe to say my jeans are feeling a little more snug than they used to!). So when I fancied a sweet treat, that was only a little bit naughty, I saw I had two lone and blackening bananas. Well, at that point it was obvious what I fancied, but I also was really wanting something chocolatey. So out of the oven 45 minutes later came this amazing Chocolate Walnut Banana Loaf!
This is a fabulous Vegan recipe, that it doesn’t matter if you’re vegan or not – you’ll love it. It’s sweet, but not too sweet with the bitter walnuts. It’s chocolatey, but not so much that you can’t taste the banana. And it’s banana-y without being overbearing. In my book, it’s just perfect with a cup of tea for a mid-afternoon pick me up.
If you can leave the walnuts in, do. If you can’t (or would prefer to remove them), add in 10g less of sugar. The walnuts give lovely texture to the otherwise quite soft and moist loaf; but crucially they also take away some of the sweetness with their lovely bitter flavour.
This is a quick mix in two goes recipe. The most involved part is smashing up the bananas which you can put as much or as little effort as you like into. Or, why not get some small hands involved? This would be a great recipe to make with little children with a little bit of adult supervision.
Makes 8 generous fat slices. Takes 25 minutes plus baking and cooling time.
Ingredients:
- 200g self raising flour
- 120g soft brown sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 200g soya milk
- 80g vegetable oil
- 1/2 tsp vanilla paste
- 2 mashed bananas
- 80g chocolate chips
- 70g chopped walnuts
1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line a 20cm loaf tin with baking paper.
2. In a large bowl, peel the two bananas and roughly mash with a fork or your hands. Add the flour, sugar, and baking powder to the bowl, then add the oil and milk and beat the cake mixture together.
3. Add the chocolate chips and chopped walnuts to the batter and mix again. Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 30-35 until well risen and golden brown and a skewer comes out clean from the centre.
4. Once baked, leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Eat within 4 days.
To make a peanut butter version:
Make as above, but reduce the chocolate chips and walnuts to 60g each. Melt 2 tbsp smooth peanut butter in the microwave for 30 seconds.
Pour half the batter in the tin, then the peanut butter. Pour the remaining batter over the top, and swirl through with a skewer.
The Dairy Free Baker 