Chocolate banana bread

Chocolate banana bread is a delicious cross between a classic banana bread and a chocolate loaf cake. It’s moist thanks to the bananas but deliciously chocolatey – a lovely alternative to a traditional loaf cake.

Chocolate banana bread is the perfect bake for fans of banana bread who love a bit of chocolate. The bananas keep it lovely and moist while the added chocolate makes it deliciously decadent. If you’ve got over ripe bananas in your fruit bowl, but don’t want to make a classic banana bread, this is a great alternative.

I’m a fan of loaf cakes as they are a great simple alternative to more complicated, decorative layer cakes. There’s no fancy decoration or piping which makes them great for kids to try. But that doesn’t mean it’s not delicious.

Best of all, this recipe mixes everything together in one bowl. I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again but those tend to be the easiest bakes for kids and certainly mean less washing up!

How can kids help make a chocolate banana bread?

This chocolate banana bread is a great bake for kids. It’s really simple and as it has no special, decoration it’s easy enough for kids and beginner bakers to make.

There are lots of fun steps kids can get involved in in this recipe. From measuring and mixing everything together to cracking and adding in the eggs (which is an important skill for any young baker to learn).

If you have very young children or toddlers helping you, peeling and mashing the bananas is a great, easy job for them to take charge of.

How ripe should my bananas be?

The riper the banana the sweeter it becomes. That means baking things like this banana bread is the perfect way of using up super ripe or even brown bananas.

You can also freeze over ripe bananas to use at a later date. If you want to do this, simply wrap your peeled banana in cling-film / glad wrap and pop it in the freezer. Coming out the freezer the bananas can be really soggy (and a little bit disgusting according to the kids), but are still perfect for baking.

What can I use if I don’t have any self raising flour?

If you don’t have self raising flour, which can be found in supermarkets here in the UK you can swap it for an equal amount of plain or all purpose flour and add 1 ½ tea spoons of baking powder and a pinch of salt.

What is baking margarine/baking spread?

Baking margarine or spread, (Stork being a well known brand), is just a non-dairy margarine. It’s perfect for baking as it can make cakes and cupcakes lighter and fluffier than if you use butter.

What size is a 2lb loaf tin?

Dimensions of a 2lb or 900g loaf tin will vary slightly, but are generally about 24cm x 14cm x 6.5cm (9.5 x 5.5 2.5 inches). If you want to check the size of your tin, but don’t have a ruler you can fill it with water then pour the water into a measuring jug. A 2lb tin should hold at least 1.2 litres.

If you only have smaller tins, for this recipe, you’re best to fill each tin with half the mixture and adjust the baking time down.

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What else can you use overripe bananas in?

We use bananas in our baking all the time, so we’ve got lots of other recipes you can use bananas with:

Banana bread muffins
Banana oat cookies
Banana bread
Caramel banana bread
Chocolate dodgers
Nutella and banana muffins
Chocolate chip banana bread
Chocolate chip banana muffins
Cinnamon banana bread

Or make another loaf cake

If you liked this chocolate banana bread you might also want to try one of these delicious classic bakes:

Ginger loaf cake
Treacle sponge
Lemon and blueberry loaf
Fruit loaf
Caramel and apple loaf
Lemon drizzle cake
Madeira cake
Chocolate loaf cake
Banana bread
Orange drizzle cake

Useful equipment

You might need the following baking tools/gadgets to make this chocolate banana bread:

Digital scales
Freestanding mixer
Mixing bowl
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons
2 lb loaf tin
Wire rack

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Ingredients

100g butter / baking spread
150g caster sugar
2 eggs
2 bananas
200g self raising flour*
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 tablespoons cocoa powder

* If you don’t have self raising flour, swap it for an equal amount of plain/all-purpose flour and add 1 ½ teaspoons of baking powder.

How to make a chocolate banana bread

Preheat your oven to 170C / 150C Fan / 340F and grease and line a 2 lb loaf tin with baking or parchment paper.

The easiest way to line the tin (unless you have purpose made loaf tin liners) can be to cut a strip of baking paper and add that to the tin in one direction. Then add another one in the other direction. If you leave some baking paper overhanging the edge it will make it easier to remove the loaf once its baked.

Cream the butter and sugar together

Get your kids to measure out the butter and sugar and add them to a mixing bowl or the bowl of your free-standing mixer.

The butter needs to be soft. If yours isn’t cut it into a few pieces and blast it in the microwave for a few seconds to soften it, but not so long that it starts to melt.

If you’re using baking spread or margarine, you can add it straight in.

Beat the butter and sugar together with a hand held mixer, the k-paddle of your free-standing mixer or even wooden spoons, for a few minutes until they become light and fluffy.

Add the eggs

Get your kids to crack the eggs into a small bowl. We typically never add eggs straight in, just in case any shell goes in. If (or when) it does you can fish it out with a larger piece of shell or a teaspoon as it sticks to that better than it does our fingers.

Add the eggs, one at a time, to your mixing bowl, mixing a little in between each addition.

Add the bananas

Peel and mash the bananas with a fork (this is a great job for even very young children and toddlers to help with. Add them to your mixing bowl and mix them in until they are well combined.

Add the dry ingredients

Measure out the flour and add it to your mixing bowl. At the same time, add the baking powder and cocoa powder. Make sure your kids use their finger to level the spoon before you add it so that you add just the right amount.

Gently mix everything in until it is well combined and the batter is nice and smooth.

Bake the chocolate banana bread

Spoon or pour the batter into your prepared loaf tin and spread it into each corner with a spatula or a small palette knife.

Bake the chocolate banana bread for 50-55 minutes. It’s ready when it has risen and a skewer or sharp knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.

It’s harder to tell in a chocolate loaf but if you find the top of the loaf becoming too dark or starting to burn before the centre is fully baked, loosely cover it in foil for the last 10 minutes or so while it finishes baking.

Remove the chocolate banana bread from the oven, leave it to cool in the tin for 10-15 minutes, then turn it out and pop it on a wire rack to cool completely.

Serve and enjoy.