Banana bread. The perfect way to use up those brown bananas that have sat neglected on your counter, day by day growing sadder and lonelier. In a world where there is so much waste, it’s nice to know that we will always have banana bread to save those overripe bananas from going in the bin. I personally love banana bread because although it is called “bread”, it has the delicious sweetness and delicate texture that I often associate with cakes. AND it’s socially acceptable to put chocolate in it and still call it bread. However, in all honesty, I’d say that the only real difference between banana bread and banana cake is about 100 calories worth of icing. :D

One of my family’s oldest friends used to work at the Harbord Bakery in downtown Toronto. Every so often, she’d bring us a loaf of their banana bread. And this wasn’t just any banana bread, this was the best banana bread on earth. Always super moist with these thick chocolate swirls adding an extra degree of richness.  They weren’t just swirls of batter with some cocoa in it; it was marbled with real chocolate. Seeing some mogey looking bananas on my counter, I was inspired to try and recreate this childhood favourite.

I just used a basic banana bread recipe that I found online at the Food Network. It had lots of positive reviews, which was good enough for me. The recipe also contains a generous amount of cinnamon, which I liked.  Even though the original Harbord Bakery banana bread isn’t spiced, I’ve added cinnamon to chocolate baked goods with great success before (I want to marry you cookies, anyone?). I melted the chocolate with a bit of butter to turn it into more of a ganache. I wanted the chocolate to be a bit thicker, so it won’t all just sink to the bottom of the loaf tin.

That chocolate swirl is what really makes this banana bread special

I tasted one of these when they were still warm from the oven. Very tender and packing a a massive chocolate hit (the swirl was still gooey…mmmmmm). However, I feel I have to say that they don’t quite live up to the Harbord Bakery banana bread. Maybe my memory of how Harbord Bakery banana bread tastes is seasoned with nostalgia, but I’m convinced there are very few banana bread recipes out that there that could top it. That being said, this is a very decent recipe and probably the closest thing I’ll get to my beloved treat until I visit home in August. :)

Happy Baking!

I love this plate so much!

Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda (bicarb of soda)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 200g plain/semi-sweet chocolate, chopped into coarse chunks
• 2 tbsp butter/margarine

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 175C/350F. Butter and flour a 9″x5″ loaf tin (optional: line with baking parchment).
2. Melt the chocolate and butter together either in the microwave (heat in 15-20 second intervals, stirring frequently) or over a bain-marie. I’m lazy, so I used the microwave method – just be careful the chocolate doesn’t burn! Set aside.
3. In a medium sized mixing bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
4. With a wire whisk, beat together the egg and sugar until frothy. Add in the mashed banana, oil, vanilla, and cinnamon. Stir until well combined.
5. Add the flour mixture to the banana mixture. Using a spatula, gently fold the flour into the wet ingredients until just combined. Ideally, this should take less than 20 strokes with the spatula. If you mix to much, your banana bread will be dry and tough.
6. Pour half of the batter into the prepared tin. Spoon 3-4 large dollops of chocolate over the batter. Drag a butter knife through the globs of chocolate to create a beautiful marbled pattern. Cover with the remaining batter. Add another 4 or so dollops of chocolate (or use it all up!) onto the batter and swirl the knife through the batter again.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Tip: if the top is getting too brown before the centre is cooked, cover it with some tin foil.
8. Let cool for 5-10 minutes in the loaf tin, before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely (if you can wait that long before devouring it!)