Banana and Chocolate Loaf
Banana and Walnut Loaf
Banana Loaf with Chocolate Drizzle
It’s been a busy week of banana loaf baking! As with most households, the delicious banana loaf starts off with a couple of overripe banana… I didn’t have that many to make three cakes, so ended up buying bananas specifically!
Banana and Chocolate Loaf
To start off with there is the Chocolate and Banana Loaf finished off with a sprinkle of flaked almonds. The recipe originates from the BBC Chocolate and Banana Cake but I didn’t have all the ingredients and simplified the method a little to make it quicker and easier to bake on a week night.
Ingredients:
- 100ml sunflower oil
- 175g caster sugar
- 175g self-raising flour
- half tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 4 tbsp cocoa powder
- 2Â ripe bananas
- 3 medium eggs
- 50ml milk
- Extra chocolate chips/chunks (I used blobs of left over chocolate ganache)
Method:
- Preheat oven to 160 degrees C, line and prepare a 2 lb loaf tin
- Dry ingredients: mix the sugar, flour, bicarb, and cocoa in a large bowl
- Wet ingredients: mash the bananas and whisk the eggs, then add the oil and milk and mix it all up
- Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined then add the extra chocolate
- Pour into prepared loaf tin, level off the top and sprinkle over the flaked almonds
- Bake for up to 1 hour, checking after 45 minutes. (the original recipe says up to 1 hour and 15 minutes so you need to judge for yourself, and it depends on your own oven!)
Banana and Walnut Loaf
A few days later came the banana and walnut cake, taken to a meeting for the Bumba Foundation of which I am a trustee. The Bumba Foundation is a UK based charity set up to build schools for children in Uganda, aiming to inspire and develop young people and communities to take positive action. The trustees have been working hard recently to raise funds to furnish new classroom blocks before the new academic year starts. What else could I do but bring along a snack to help keep the creative juices flowing? 🙂
Ingredients:
- 100g softened butter
- 120g caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 225g plain flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2Â ripe bananas
- 85g chopped walnuts
- 50ml milk
Method:
- Preheat oven to 160 degrees C, line and prepare a 2 lb loaf tin.
- Cream the butter and sugar together, add the milk and eggs then mix until well combined.
- Mash the bananas and add to the butter mixture.
- Fold the flour and baking powder into the wet ingredients then sprinkle over the walnuts.
- Pour into prepared loaf tin, level off the top and top with a few whole walnuts for decoration.
- Bake for up to 1 hour, checking after 45 minutes.
Banana Loaf with Chocolate Drizzle
And finally, there is the plain banana loaf baked for a charity bake sale. The British Red Cross have an incredible Fire and Emergency Support Service that desperately needs a new vehicle to respond to emergencies such as house fires. We held a bake sale in the office and I baked this banana cake and some chocolate and peanut butter cupcakes (recipe to follow!) to help with eh fundraising.
Ingredients:
- 125g butter
- 120g caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 very ripe bananas
- 190g self raising flour
- 50ml milk
- melted chocolate and icing sugar (for decoration)
Method:
- Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin. Melt butter and sugar in a saucepan over a medium heat.
- Remove from heat and add the mashed bananas, mix well.
- Add the egg, mix well.
- Stir in the flour and the milk.
- Pour into the prepared tin and bake at 160 degrees C for 45 minutes
- Once cooled, drizzle melted chocolate and dust with icing sugar
As you can see, all three banana loaves used slightly different methods. All had slightly different flavors and turned out pretty good! Banana cakes are loved by all and can be adapted for more of a decadent flavour. Whether for a charity bake sale, a treat for a meeting or to cheer up a friend, it  is a firm favourite for everyone… 😀
tea and sesame 