Vegan chocolate banana bread
Vegan chocolate banana bread
I realise I might have missed the banana bread train, which was THE thing to bake at the height of the quarantine but I have been itching to make a double chocolate version of my very popular eggless banana bread for a while now and as we are spending this entire weekend working, I figured that a slice of banana bread and a cup of coffee will keep our spirits high.
The weather has turned cloudy and cold and we have received a confirmation that our sofa is coming on Monday so we really need to get cracking with our living room DIY. Last weekend was far too sunny to stay indoors so predictably we have not moved it along at all, but now that an actual deadline is upon is there are no excuses. Currently we are getting to grips with a beast of a mitre saw, which we purchased to make all the custom cabinets in the house ourselves – let’s see how we get on – I hope not to have to put the saw on Ebay anytime soon…
This recipe for double chocolate banana bread is really easy to make, it requires a single mixing bowl and a bunch of staple ingredients. It’s moist, sweet but not too sweet with delicious pools of melted dark chocolate hidden here and there. It can easily be made gluten-free and refined sugar-free too if you so wish, but it certainly does not have to. I hope you’ll make it and enjoy it as much as we do.
- 360 g / 1½ cups mashed up, very ripe bananas
- 60 ml / ¼ cup mild tasting oil (I used 50 g mild coconut oil) or nut butter like hazelnut (for oil-free version)
- 95 ml / 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp soy milk (lukewarm if using coconut oil)
- 60 ml / ¼ cup cooled coffee (or more soy milk)
- 175 g / ¾ cup + 2 tbsp coconut sugar, caster or demerara sugar*
DRY INGREDIENTS
- 50 g / ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1¼ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- 180 g / 1½ cups all purpose wheat flour or GF flour mix (I use this one)
- ½ tsp sea salt (I use Maldon salt flakes crushed between my fingers)
OPTIONAL EXTRAS
- 100 g / 3.5 oz vegan 70% dark chocolate, diced small (optional)
- chopped hazelnuts, for decoration
- Heat up the oven to 180° C / 355° F and line a 900 g / 2 lb bread tin** with baking paper. Move the oven rack a notch down from the middle position.
- Combine mashed up bananas with oil, soy milk, coffee and sugar in a large bowl. Mix very well.
- Place a sieve over the bowl with dry ingredients and sift through cocoa powder, baking agents, flour and salt. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ones slowly and gently making small circles in the middle of the batter, progressively incorporate more and more of the dry ingredients – this way, you won’t have a lumpy batter.
- Stir in chopped chocolate or chocolate chips, if using.
- Transfer the cake batter into the prepared baking tin. It should be fairly pourable. Decorate with chopped hazelnuts. I preroasted mine in a 180° C / 355° F oven for 10 minutes first, but I don’t recommend doing that (or for as long as I did) as that’s the reason they got slightly burnt once on the cake.
- Bake for about 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out fairly clean (this cake should be moist). Remove from the oven and allow it to cool down completely before removing it from the tin and slicing. Use a serrated knife to slice if you have one – I find that it produces neater looking slices.
**I used a 2 lb / 900 g cake tin of the following dimensions: 18.5cm x 8cm x 6cm, which holds 8 cups / 2000 ml liquid (to the brim), but the batter should fill no more than 2/3 – 3/4 of the 2lb cake tin or else the cake may not raise.
Love from the Maldives.
Firstly, I am sorry for taking so long to reply but my dad is very ill so I haven’t been online much lately. Sure, you can, divide between 12 standard muffins holes and bake for about 22 minutes. Or use this chocolate banana bread muffin recipe instead. Hope this helps! Ania
I USED SUGAR AS MENTIONED AND IT WAS PERFECTLY SWEET FOR ALL OF US.
I'm always recommending your site to people, Ania – thanks for going to such an effort to create such incredible recipes for us all to enjoy. There are so many mediocre recipes on the internet; in contrast, yours are consistently excellent.
So easy to make. Almost as fast as my boys ate it 🙈
Can this be frozen once cooked? I have lots of bananas so will be making more thank one! Many thanks Emma x
Yes, I don't see why not. I would recommend slicing it first, separating the slices with pieces of baking parchment and freezing in an air-tight container to keep the smells away and prevent freezer burn. Hope this helps! Ania
I made it yesterday and can’t stop eating. So delicious. It’s almost like a dessert 🧁:)
I'm so happy to hear that you've been enjoying my chocolate banana bread. As for nutrition facts, I don’t have any means of calculating this kind of information in my current website, but hoping to be able to include it (for new recipes initially as I have to do all the calculations by hand) in the next edition. It should be launching in the next 2 months, please bear with me. In the meantime, I if you want to be able to count calories in your meals an app like Cronometer will help. Ania
Yes, I totally think it would, it contains a nice mixture of flours including tapioca and starch, which are key. I am a little worried about coconut flour as it's very thirsty so it may make the bread dry, but you need to try to know if there is any point adding more liquid to the recipe when using this particular flour mix. Keep an eye on it (start checking at around 40-45 minutes but only once risen), it may need less time in the oven due to coconut flour being part of the mix. Good luck!
Ps. By mistake I used one tablespoon of bicarbonate soda instead of one teaspoon .... 😂 I reckon this is way it came out so soft and high
Can I add cinnamon? Will it affect the ratio of dry ingredients in any way?
I made a choc banana bread from another recipe today and it turned out tasty but the middle was all soggy. I think there was too much liquid, I'm not sure.
Sure, you can use another plant milk so cashew one is absolutely fine. The milk needs to be lukewarm as if it is straight from the fridge it will cause coconut oil to harden/get lumpy. You can add cinnamon (it won't affect any ratios unless you add loads) if you wish but chocolate may overpower its taste, I personally think that it works better in a regular (not a chocolate one) banana bread. Hope you and your toddler will enjoy it. Ania
I just put the peach tart into the oven. I'll let you know how it turned out.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH
LiLo
I haven't but I am pretty sure it will work, it *may* need a touch more liquid though and the texture will be different (coarser), of course. Ania
No, it's 5 cups total capacity. Sounds like your baking tin is perfect for this recipe. I hope you'll enjoy my take on chocolate banana bread. Ania
Possibly, but I am not sure as I have not tried. I would personally team it up with oat or buckwheat flour and maybe add a flax egg for good measure (in the absence of starches that GF flour mixes contain). Hope that helps! Ania