Everyone loves banana bread. Right? Even people who don’t otherwise want anything to do with bananas. So it’s important to have a simple and easy recipe to turn to. Once you have a basic banana bread recipe, you can add other ingredients here and there to make it a bit more tasty.

Speaking of basics, let’s make a few things clear. If you like to bake, then a kitchen scale is worth purchasing, because baking is all about precision. If you don’t have a scale, a good set of measuring cups is the next best thing. Another way to ensure accuracy is an oven thermometer. Oven temperatures can often vary, so you can’t always trust the oven mark. A thermometer ensures that your oven is always exactly the right temperature before you put in anything to bake.

Having clarified this, back to our banana bread.

Banana bread makes a great snack to accompany your daily caffeine dose. Today I’m sharing two ways to incorporate chocolate into this everyday favourite to make teatime feel a bit more special. One recipe involves stirring in chocolate chips and walnuts, while the second is a chocolate banana marble loaf, with generous dollops of Nutella swirled through the batter.

Basic banana bread

For best results, make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature before you start.

Ingredients

Unsalted butter 100g

Brown sugar 60g (1/3 cup)

Caster sugar 60g (1/3 cup)

Vanilla extract ½ tsp

Eggs 2

Plain flour 150g (1¼ cups)

Baking powder 1½ tsp

Mashed banana 175g to 200g (2/2 to ¾ up or 3 to 4 bananas)

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line an 8 x 4 inch loaf tin and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, add butter, sugars and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer at high speed or two to three minutes, until it’s light and creamy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after adding each one. Sift in the flour and baking powder, and add the mashed banana. Mix well, either by hand, or with the mixer on low speed.

Bake at 180°C for about 40 to 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the centre of the loaf comes out clean.

Leave in the tin to cool for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Banana chocolate chip walnut loaf

Additional ingredients

Chocolate chips 50g (¼ cup)

Walnuts, finely chopped 60g (½ cup)

Method

Stir the chocolate chips and walnuts into the banana bread batter. Spoon into the prepared tin and bake at 180°C for about 40 to 50 minutes.

Choco-nutella banana loaf

Additional ingredients

Cocoa powder 30g (¼ cup), sifted

Milk 2 tablespoons

Nutella 3 to 4 teaspoons

Method

Put half the banana bread batter in another mixing bowl. Add the cocoa powder and milk to it, and mix well.

In the prepared loaf tin, add alternate tablespoons of the chocolate and banana batter. When the cake batter is finished, drop three to four teaspoons nutella randomly on top of the cake batter.

Using a butter knife, gently swirl together the cake batter and nutella, using a figure-eight motion, to create a marbled effect.

Bake at 180°C for about 40 to 50 minutes.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, November 6th, 2016