Moist Banana Walnut Chocolate Bread

Moist Banana Walnut Chocolate Bread with desiccated coconut for a soft texture and intense flavour

Hello and how have we all been keeping?

Well, my schedule has been a bit out of whack. I had it all planned but then an unscheduled road trip for 2 days seems to have side tracked my best laid plans. In any event, I am looking forward to the road trip! Will rather work extra harder these few days and enjoy! Hey, I am learning how to embrace change better and not get so cranky if things don’t go as planned. That is one of my goals for 2014 and beyond, learning to embrace things. Of course I reserve the right to be cranky every now and then. There, caveat entered!

So, where was I, ah – yes, I wanted to share a recipe for a moist banana walnut chocolate bread. Oh I know there are thousands of banana bread recipes, but I really did enjoy this recipe and it takes 2 minutes to make. Well, you got me there, it takes 10 minutes of prep time, but that is short and easy enough. This banana bread is really quite filling and it worked really well for several brunches and lunches for me. The desiccated coconut gives body to the texture. As for the chocolate chips, well, most things are better with chocolate and this is definitely the case here. As a side note, I have reduced the sugar content so if you want it sweeter, go ahead and increase the amount of sugar by 50gm.

While we are on the subject of banana bread, something which puzzles me is the difference between banana bread and banana cake. I have not found a definitive answer, so if you have any answers or opinions on this question, do share them with me!

Recipe for  Moist Banana Walnut Chocolate Bread

(adapted from Oh Sweet Day)

Prep Time: 10 minutes / Baking Time 55 minutes – 1 hour

You will need a loaf tin

Ingredients

3 Eggs

200gm Light Brown Soft Sugar

3 ripe Bananas (mashed)

180ml Vegetable Oil

263gm All Purpose Flour

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Salt

110gm Chocolate Chips

50gm Desiccated Coconut

80gm Walnuts (chopped)

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 170°C and line a loaf pan with parchment paper.

2. Sift the all purpose flour, baking soda and baking powder together. Add in the salt and whisk evenly. Set aside to be used later.

3. In a large bowl, pour in the vegetable oil. Add the eggs, sugar and mashed bananas. Whisk the mixture thoroughly until all the sugar has dissolved. Add in the sifted dry flour mixture and fold in until you do not see any flour lumps. Fold in the chocolate chips, desiccated coconut and chopped walnuts.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 55-60 minutes. Test the cake and if a skewer or cake tester comes out clean, remove from oven and leave to cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes before removing from pan and leaving to cool completely on a wire rack.