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To begin with: a banana bread isn’t bread, it’s cake.
At the end you get a juicy, soft cake w/ chocolate flavor & a hint of vanilla. (Ok – this time I didn’t add any more spices like cinnamon or so, nor did I shatter any nuts, nor did I think of any additional fruit or vegetables… to make all just a bit more fancy!)
For the record:
I made this banana bread beginning of March when I started to become earnest about loaf cakes. Maybe you might think that a banana bread is more suitable for cold & dark days, but I think you may enjoy it anytime – also at Easter coming soon.
Years ago – at least it appears to me like years – I tried a banana bread recipe. My better half & I can very well remember this cake. In short: we liked it. So when I stumbled on photos w/ banana bread recently on Instagram & noticed recipes on blogs I had the idea to try it again. Imagine a soft, fluffy loaf of cake… accompanying your cup of coffee or tea or espresso…
What do we need?
It’s only:
- flour
- cocoa
- butter
- sugar & vanilla sugar
- eggs
- …& ripe bananas!
Yes – you definitely need RIPE bananas. So buy you bananas some days before your baking adventure because most of the time the bananas in your trusted food store are rather firm & fresh. 3-4 days somewhere on your kitchen counter will help them ripen.
We start w/ peeling & cutting the bananas. Afterwards just mash them. I used the same mashing tool I use for cooked potatoes when preparing potato mash. Finally I used a fork to mince it a little more, however, bits of bananas should remain.
…& don’t forget to preheat your oven to 170° C w/ fan!
We mix the flour with baking powder & cocoa.
During my 1st banana bread adventure I used chocolate chips – now I thought of cocoa: a fine intensive cocoa for baking.
Furthermore mix butter & sugar w/ electric help; then add the eggs & mix thoroughly.
We pour the sugar-butter-egg mess into the flour mix & mix – once again – w/ electric help until everything is a smooth mess.
Just add the mashed banana pulp & fold in w/ a spoon. All the fluid comes from the banana mash; we don’t need any milk or cream or whatever for this bread.
The whole mess marches now in our prepared loaf tin.
Don’t forget to line the tin crosswise w/ baking parchment!
(If the baking parchment is too „nervous“ just add a drop of oil to the tin & distribute w/ kitchen paper. The baking parchment will adhere to the tin at once!)
In the recipe you’ll see that I use 4 bananas. 3 of them are mashed… The last banana will become some sort of decoration.
Just peel it & cut it lengthwise.
The banana will be on top of the cake.
I saw photos about this decoration recently e. g. on food blogs like Dee’s Küche or Displaced Housewife & I thought it looked yummy.
After the baking session my banana halves were almost covered w/ cake (…while the photos in the internet…) Nevertheless it’s a delicious cake!
Enjoy!
- 200 g all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 80 g butter
- 125 g sugar
- 2 tbsp vanilla sugar
- a pinch of salt
- 4 eggs
- 2 tbsp cocoa
- 3 ripe bananas
- 1 ripe banana for decoration
- a loaf tin 25 cm
- a handheld electric mixer
- Preheat the oven to 170° C w/ fan.
- Line the loaf tin w/ baking parchment (all sides - crosswise).
- Mix flour, baking powder & cocoa; set aside.
- Peel the bananas & mash the bananas like you mash cooked potatoes; finally use a fork. Some small bits should remain. Set aside.
- Mix butter, sugar, vanilla sugar & salt with a handheld electric mixer.
- Add eggs & mix well.
- Add flour mix & mix until you get a soft dough.
- Add the banana mess & fold in w/ a spoon.
- Fill the mess in the loaf pan.
- Peel the last banana & slice into 2 halves. Add the halves on top of the mess.
- Bake in the oven for about 50 min.
- Make the famous test w/ the wooden pin...
- Let it cool down for 10-15 min; then get the banana bread out fo the loaf tin & let it cool down.
You may enjoy the banana bread as it is. You may also spread some butter on the slices… Or you may add some jam. (I tried it w/ my home-made pineapple-ginger jam… yummy!)
The businesswoman w/ too many office hours thinks
This is straightforward & fast. The baking parchment helps to lift the cake out of the tin. (…& the tin is almost clean afterwards!)
I think I’ll try banana bread w/ cinnamon & walnuts next time.
