Vegan Chocolate Walnut Banana Loaf

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.

 

Banana Bread

Warning: Not for those who don’t like bananas! A really simple recipe for Banana Bread, ideal for a breakfast treat or snack any time of the day. A great way to use up any old bananas!

Banana Bread is such a good recipe to have up your sleeve. I don’t know about you, but at the end of the week we always have a few bananas left in our fruit bowl, abandoned as the week goes on due to their ever growing brown spots. This recipe is one of my favourites as you have to use old overripe blackened bananas – they have a much stronger banana flavour and of course are much sweeter, which is just perfect for Banana Bread. I much prefer bananas on the green side for eating, so I find this recipe transforms your bin worthy bananas into something utterly delicious; a moist, dense cake where the banana flavour is the star, compliment by crunchy walnuts scattered throughout.

As mentioned, the main reason for using old, blackened bananas is the sugar content. The blacker the bananas, the sweeter and more mashable they are, which is ideal for this recipe. The recipe actually has a relatively low added sugar content, because the natural sugars in the banana make up for it big time. If you don’t have ripe enough bananas for this recipe you can cheat and speed up their ageing process by baking them, skin on, in the oven for about 10 minutes until black all over and very squidgey.

I’ve made this banana bread very simply, with ingredients you almost certainly have in your cupboard. Unusually for me there are no surprising ingredients, no long list of spices, no twist on a classic. Instead this is as pure a Banana Bread recipe as you can get – the only addition being walnuts (as I think every great Banana Bread has to have texture!). You could use any nuts you like, pecans would also work well.

I really enjoyed eating this as a breakfast treat, just cold and thickly sliced. It felt naughty, but everyone needs a treat every now and then… as I seem to tell myself every weekend!