Servings: 8-10
Prep time: 15 minutes
Total time: 1 hour
Ingredients
3 large very ripe bananas
½ cup|115 grams unsalted butter, melted
¾ cup|145 grams light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon table or fine sea salt
1 cup|130 grams plus ¼ cup|35 grams all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ cup|20 grams dark cocoa powder, sifted if lumpy
¾ cup|130 grams chocolate chips
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Directions
- Heat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan, or coat it with a nonstick baking spray. Melt butter in the bottom of a large bowl in the microwave. Mash the bananas right into it until mostly smooth.
- Whisk in brown sugar, egg, vanilla, baking soda and salt until thoroughly combined. Add 1 cup of the flour, stirring just until it disappears.
- Pour half the batter into a second bowl. (You can eyeball it, it’s fine. Or you can know that my batter halves were roughly 12.9 ounces|365 grams each, but weights will vary with banana sizes.) Into one bowl stir the remaining ¼ cup of flour and ground cinnamon. Into the other bowl, stir in the cocoa powder and chocolate chips.
- Dollop batters in large alternating spoonfuls into bottom of prepared loaf pan. Attempt to “checkerboard” the rest in, roughly meaning that you’ll drop a chocolate batter on a chocolate-free one and vice versa until both batters are used up. Use a butter knife or small offset spatula to make a few figure 8’s through the batters, marbling them together- but just a little, say, 2-3 figure-8s. Any more and the swirls may not look distinct when you cut the cake.
- Bake 55 to 65 minutes, until a tester or toothpick inserted into the center of the cake and comes out batter-free. (A melted chocolate chip smear is expected, however.) Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edge and invert it out onto a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.
- Do ahead: The banana bread will keep for up to 4 days at room temperature. I keep mine wrapped in foil.
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