I got the idea for Mexican Chocolate Banana Bread on Twitter. However, the version someone tweeted called for actual Mexican chocolate, and I didn't have that. What I did have were 3 very ripe bananas, some good quality cocoa powder and cinnamon. Here's the result!
Coming up with this recipe was pretty easy because there are already a lot of chocolate banana bread variations. In fact, I even have one I haven't made in a while that is in muffin form. But this time I wanted something different and since I've been on a Smitten Kitchen kick, I tried hers. Or started with hers.
To make it my own, I used oil in place of some of the butter and modified the mixing technique so I could skip sifting and use just one bowl. The loaf was excellent! The banana flavor is pretty robust, but so is the chocolate so it works out well. I would definitely put this in the cake category rather than bread, but since it's baked in a loaf pan we'll just go ahead and call it bread.
Recipe
Mexican Chocolate Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ¾ cup brown sugar dark
- ½ cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt reduce to ¼ if using salted butter
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup 4 ½ oz all-purpose flour
- 1 generous cup of mashed bananas about 3
- ¾ cup semisweet or dark chocolate chips.
- ⅓ cup chopped nuts optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour an 8 ½ by 4 ½ inch loaf pan or line the inside with nonstick foil.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together melted butter, oil, brown sugar and cocoa powder until smooth. Whisk in the egg, and vanilla.
- Whisk in baking soda, salt and cinnamon until fully blended.
- Add flour and stir until it is absorbed, then stir in mashed bananas and chocolate chips.
- Transfer to the loaf pan and sprinkle more chocolate chips on top if desired.
- Bake for 50 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
- Let cool in pan for 10 to 15 minutes, then loosen with a knife and let cool completely before removing from the pan. If you used a foil lined pan, just let it cool in the pan and then lift it out.
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Anna says
Hello Ann,
I agree! I am used to slightly less rich banana breads, so this one was kind of a jolt - yet not in a bad way, just richer than I expected. The people I served it to loved it and wanted more, so I suppose it's best if our expectations are set. Your idea of putting a salted caramel bourbon sauce and serving it as dessert is brilliant.
Ann P says
Tried this today. It's good. A bit heavier then I expected and makes me want to add a neutral cream sauce to drizzle over it i.e. Devon Cream or a salted caramel bourbon sauce. It is a dense chocolate cake really,
Sue says
I made this using banana I had frozen. My husband especially loved it. I was surprised that the chocolate didn't overwhelm the banana but was still plenty chocolate.