Marbled banana bread

Last time I did any baking it was in May; on our 5^th anniversary I baked Walnut Pie. Post that i had lost interest in baking as most of the new recipes came out to be catastrophe; instead of repeating the disaster(remember Barley Cookies ) time and again it was best to take a break. Joining a baking class was still not an option therefore i decided to list down all the probable reasons I could think of that contributed to my failure. After watching endless videos on basic baking I realized the two of my biggest mistakes-

• Power of pre heating – I never thought something as simple as this could be a major reason for cakes turning out to be bricks(not kidding). I usually heated the oven for 5-10 minutes before baking and later it took hours to bake a simple brownie when the recipe clearly stated 25mins. Several of my favourite vlogger chefs taught me that it takes minimum of 25mins for standard oven to reach desired temperature.
• Measurements- In the past I used to mix ingredients on an estimated ratio. Mostly I used my coffee mug as standard measuring unit due to which the batter was either too runny or two doughy. After throwing away atleast 10cakes I realized it was time to buy measuring cups and spoons.

Once I started using these techniques recipes turned out to be good. The cakes were moist, muffin was fluffier, brownie was crumblier and I was happier. After trying out several recipes by others and tasting the sweet taste of victory I was confident again to experiment, initially I didn’t make lots of variations to the original recipes only few tweaks to make it boo friendly. And the results were acceptable, boo started liking my baking!

Last month we shifted to Bangalore and 1 fruit which is always there in our house is banana or more precisely (yelakki) for two reasons, first it is boo’s favourite fruit. Second, here bananas are bought in kgs and not in dozen hence 1 trip to supermarket means 15-20 bananas. Those bananas were calling out to me to make something other than ice-cream, hence banana bread. Baking simple banana bread would nt have been the ideal medium to showcase my recently acquired skills, When it comes to baking don’t we all want to bake something fancy. Hence I thought of taking it up a notch and go for marbled bread (just an excuse to add chocolates).

Marbled Banana Bread

Ingredients –

• 8 small/ 3large ripe bananas
• 1 cup refined flour
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• ½ cup unsalted butter
• ¾ cup chocolate chips
• ¼ cup dark cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg

Method-

• Start with mashing the bananas. Make sure there are no lumps.
• In a double boiler melt butter. Once butter melts, transfer it to large bowl and add mashed bananas. Whisk gently until butter and banana comes together.
• Next add egg and give a gentle mix.
• Now add brown sugar. Vanilla extract, baking soda and salt.
• Once mixed add 1 cup flour little at a time. Use cut and folds method to mix flour with the wet ingredients.
• Make sure there is no lump in the mixture, don’t over mix it otherwise bread will turn out hard.
• Pour half the batter in separate bowl (use your judgment for dividing the mixture).
• To the first bowl add cinnamon and mix gently.
• To the second bowl add chocolate chips and cocoa powder. I didn’t use chocolate chips instead i crushed a bark of dark chocolate and used the pieces. You can use your favourite chocolate. Avoid milk chocolate otherwise bread will be too sweet. Mix everything and put the batter aside.
• Apply butter to the inner walls of the rectangular bread mould. Dust in the flour and remove excess.
• First place 1 spoonful of cinnamon batter on the bottom, next to it put 1 spoonful of chocolate batter and lastly place cinnamon batter.
• For the next layer start with chocolate then cinnamon next chocolate.
• Move on to next layer. Keep making the checkerboard pattern till both the batters are finished.
• Take a spatula or skewer run it through the bottom of mould and make s shape from one end to another, marbling the batters together.
• Bake the bread for 50-40minutes, until toothpick inserted comes out clean (melted chocolate is expected). Once done cool it on wire rack and serve at room temperature.

If you don’t want to use refined flour you can replace it with wheat flour, as the recipe already has good amount of bananas in it am fine with refined flour. If you are making it with wheat flour, in that case increase the quantity of baking powder so that the bread rises well.

You can also add dry fruits of your choice to the batter.

Happy Baking.