I’m a huge fan of classic banana bread - and think it’s perfect just the way it is! … But everyone else in the world seemingly likes to beef it up. I figured I’d give it a try, but wanted to do something that was bold and different.
It took me a while to decide what I wanted to do. A few options for add ins included nuts, chocolate, or berries. I envisioned something like chocolate babka - something with that dreamy laced or braided chocolate vibe that you can’t take your eyes off of. I also recently got these adorable mini gold loaf pans and wanted to put something equally as pretty inside them. So the marbled banana bread journey began
The second challenge I faced was every time I was ready to make this recipe, I didn’t have bananas. If I had bananas, they were ripe enough. If you’re planning to make banana bread, definitely plan in advance because you need to have these overly ripened bananas to make good banana bread (but that’s banana bread basics, 101).
The third challenge you will incur is trying not to eat all of this bread in one sitting. These cute adorable loaves make great gifts (to yourself or others). Once fully cooled, pop them out, wrap in plastic and keep on the counter for up to 4 days.
This recipe makes 2 mini loaf pans or 1 9×5 inch loaf pan. I doubled the recipe to have 4 adorable loaves. Enjoy!
Original recipe found here from Smitten Kitchen.
Ingredients
- 3 large very ripe bananas
- ½ cup unsalted butter, melted
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup plus ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup dark cocoa powder, sifted
- ¾ cup dark chocolate chips (I used 60% bittersweet)
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F. butter loaf pan or spray with nonstick baking spray (I used avocado oil spray).
- In a large bowl, mash bananas.
- Add in melted butter, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, baking soda, and salt and whisk until combined. Add 1 cup (only 1 cup!) of flour, stir until just combined.
- In a separate bowl, pour in half of the batter. Into one bowl, stir in remaining ¼ cup of flour and ground cinnamon.
- In the second bowl, stir in the cocoa powder and chocolate chips.
- Dollop batters in large alternating spoonfuls into the bottom of the loaf pan(s). Attempt to “checkerboard” the rest in, roughly meaning that you’ll drop a chocolate batter dollop on top of a chocolate-free one and vice-versa until both batters are used up. Use a butter knife to make a few figure-8's,
- Bake 55 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out batter-free. (but a smear of melted chocolate is expected!) Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edge and invert it out onto a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
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