It was Mary Berry's recipe that inspired me to make this light chocolate banana bread. It has a perfect balance of sweet banana, a rich flavour of dark chocolate and a fragrant orange aroma.
200gramsripe bananapeeled weight, usually 1 bigger banana
1zest from one orange
2tablespoonsorange juice
160gramsplain flour
1teaspoonbaking powder
1teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
¼teaspoonsalt
140grams caster sugar
75gramsbutterroom temperature
1eggroom temperature
1yolkroom temperature
⅓teaspoonvanilla extractoptional
100gramsdark chocolate chipsor chocolate bar (keep 15 - 20 grams for decorating)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 160°C (no fan) and line a 2lb loaf tin with baking paper.
Mash the banana, zest and juice in a bowl. It doesn't need to be completely smooth; some lumps are ok.
Tip: Chop the chocolate chips into even smaller pieces and dust them with a small amount of flour. It helps to prevent chocolate from sinking to the bottom of the tin.
In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, and salt.
Add all the wet ingredients (mashed banana, eggs and butter) into the bowl with flour. Beat with an electric whisk until thoroughly mixed. It shouldn't take more than 1 minute.
Gently stir in the chocolate chips.
Quickly transfer the batter to the prepared loaf tin. Level the top.
Bake at 160°C for 60 minutes.
Tip: To test if the cake is done, insert a skewer into the cake. The skewer should come out clean, and the cake slightly shrinks away from the tin.
Optional: Once you remove the cake from the oven, sprinkle some chocolate over the top of the hot cake. I like to use chocolate chips as they don't lose their shape even when melted.
Let the loaf cool down for 10 minutes in the tin, then remove from the tin and continue cooling down on the wire rack.