Wednesday, April 3, 2013

Banana Chocolate Marble Bread

The first thing I am doing today is wishing my daughter Tricia a very happy birthday! She was born 31 years ago, three weeks late, and entered the world by cesarean section at 9 lbs., 3 oz., with a head of very blonde hair and the rosiest cheeks. It seems like yesterday, in some ways, and it's very hard to believe that my youngest child is in her 30s! As in 1982, spring was late to arrive that year and just after she was born, this area was hit with an early spring snowstorm that dumped a huge amount of snow, keeping visitors home. Tricia and I had a lot of time to get to know each other during those quiet days in the hospital! With a house-full of little ones at home, I was grateful for the "vacation!"

Tricia's birthday cake was baked last night and will be frosted when I get home from work today. It's a deep, dark chocolate cake and will be frosted with chocolate as well. There seems to be a genetic predisposition toward chocolate that Tricia carries in her DNA - from both sides! I am  happy to indulge this deep-seeded craving for Tricia and the rest of the family who will celebrate her day,  though nothing has been scheduled yet. We're all too busy with work schedules and hopefully, we'll find a time to come together to wish her a wonderful year ahead!

While Tricia's cake was baking, I had another project in the works. I'd been thinking all day of ways to use the abundance of bananas that Katie had left over from the weekend She had bunches and bunches of the fruit, beginning to become perfectly ripe for baking. With chocolate on my mind, I decided to bake up a loaf of banana chocolate marble bread, inspired by a recipe from Cooking Light. I took it up a healthier notch by adding fiber and protein with flax meal. The original recipe called for yogurt, but I didn't have plain yogurt in my fridge so substituted low fat sour cream and it worked beautifully.  Here's the recipe and a photo, where you can see that my changes were very successful!


Soooo good!


BANANA CHOCOLATE MARBLE BREAD
oven - 350 degrees Farenheit.  
One standard or approximate loaf pan, sprayed or greased

3 very ripe bananas
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter, margarine (I used Smart Balance) or canola oil
1/3 cup plain yogurt or sour cream (I used light sour cream)
1 large egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour (or 1 3/4 cups whole white or whole wheat)
1/4 cups flax meal (if you have it, I added this to the original recipe)
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted in microwave (about 1 minute, stirred)

In large mixer bowl, beat ripe bananas until completely mashed. Add sugar, butter, yogurt, and beat well. Add egg and vanilla.  Beat again.

To this mixture, add mixture of flour, flax meal, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Mix fairly well until all dry particles are incorporated.

To one cup of batter, stir in melted chocolate. Spoon banana and chocolate batters alternately into prepared pan. Swirl with knife. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour, fifteen minutes or until loaf tests done (bounces back when pressed in the middle or toothpick inserted in center comes out clean). Mine was done in an hour and five minutes.

Cool in pan for 1/2 hour  Remove from pan and cool on wire rack. While still a little warm, wrap in foil or plastic wrap.  This is a tip my sister-in-law Lynn shared years ago - it keeps the loaf very moist!

Enjoy sliced right from the loaf, or enjoy a toasted slice with peanut butter!

AND, here's a photo of Tricia's birthday cake - which ended up with mocha frosting.  Dark chocolate cake with mocha frosting - yum!


Happy Birthday, Tricia!!!


Thanks for visiting, and have a great day!


24 comments:

  1. Jeanne, As always I enjoy your postings sharing your joy of life, which includes baking, writing, family and friends.

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    1. Thanks so much Tom. That means a lot to me. Appreciate it!

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  2. It looks sinfully good, so I want to know -- did it taste as good as it looks? Knowing you and the quality of your baking, I'm sure the answer is yes, but I would love to hear your own assessment. Thanks, Jeannie!

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    1. Chris, it was wonderful! I "tested" a slice, and quickly wrapped up the rest and delivered half to my friend Joanne at work and the rest went to Katie's house! I will be making this again, and again, and again!

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  3. This is by far one of my FAVORITE banana bread recipes! I've made this so many times over the years. Yours looks wonderful!

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    1. Colleen, I am so glad I found it, and I can see why it is one of your favorites! It is such a moist and delicious banana bread, and chocolate can only make it even more delicious!

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  4. Yummy, Yummy, Yummy. Thanks for the surprise this morning, it was a real treat with my coffee.

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  5. Now I have to go and buy some ripe bananas. This sounds oh so delicious. I love banana bread as is, but with the chocolate it can only be even more yummy (almost as good as a lemon poppy seed:)). Thanks for sharing.

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    1. It's a great recipe, Sue! You will love it, maybe not as much as your lemon poppy seed, but you will love it!

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  6. Ok you have peaked my chocolate craving....I must give in..even if its just a small taste ..or maybe a very large one for dinner ! Desert for dinner..??mmm I might give it a try. I hope you and the kids get together to celebrate your "babies " birthday. Enjoy every second of that time. But please ...no snow storm tonight ! HA Ha Off to secure some ripe bananas! Thanks for another tasty treat ! CKJ

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    1. I think dessert for dinner is required every now and then! Try it toasted with peanut butter! Thanks CKJ!

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  7. Hi Jeanne, this looks so good! I will make it & also share it with my daughter Sarah who happens to turn 38 years old today! She is much more of a chocolate lover than I. I love that you added all the right things to this recipe. You are doing an amazing job with your healthy recipe make overs!

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    1. Thanks so much, Fran! And happy birthday to Sarah! I remember her as a little baby - she was so cute! I really appreciate your comment about making over recipes. It's an exciting challenge to take things I already love and make them better for us! Take care, Fran - love that you enjoy my blog!

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  8. Trish's cake looks incredible! I just want to swipe my finger across the frosting and take a big lick! I know what cake you normally make, but are you going to post a recipe for that delicious mocha frosting? Please?

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    1. Carol, I will post that recipe soon. It uses melted dark chocolate and hot coffee (!) Thanks for asking!

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  9. Can this be adapted to a sheet cake ???? CKJ

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  10. As Colleen said, this is a wonderful recipe - one of my all-time favorites!! Tricia's birthday cake looks wonderful too; I'm sure she loved it!

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  11. Thanks Melissa - I've already made another one (with Pete's help!).

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  12. W. and I are just about to make the banana bread--but only have two bananas, but lots of chocolate :-). We'll let you know how it goes!

    Marla

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    1. The bread turned out great Jeannie! Andy said it was another winner :-)! We ended up using one of P's banana yogurt to make up for our missing banana.

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    2. So glad your banana bread came out so well! It's really a great recipe, and your substitution worked! Yea!

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  13. I have used chocolate chips in my banana bread but have never tried a chocolate marble. I have recipe for Banana bread that's been in the family for a long time. Banana bread is a hit with everyone in my house. I have even started to make it in my bread machine. I usually add some applesauce to it, so that it does not dry our in the bread machine.
    Ginelle

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