Recipe: Choc Banana Bread (Bill Granger)

2013 has been a good year for me in the kitchen - being able to experiment, try new recipes as well as getting the kids involved in our daily baking/cooking and having fun together. I am also happy that I was able to post a blogpost almost everyday (358 to date) this year and hope to continue this streak next year. I am very grateful to my family for being my guinea pigs as well as my supportive friends and readers for trying out my recipes and reading my posts. 

Also, many thanks to everyone who participated in the latest "Cook Like Bill Granger" and other Cook Like a Star bloghop events this year. I certainly enjoyed trying new recipes and visiting my fellow bloggers blogs for inspiration and friendship. Just a reminder that my Christmas event will run to 31 January 2014, so feel free to post any Christmas recipes you may still have at this link.

************************

Baby D saw the bunch of bananas sitting on the kitchen island and asked "Mummy, can we bake a banana cake today?" I quickly googled a Bill Granger recipe and we're ready to go!

Choc Banana Bread

After a year of kitchen training, I am so happy to see Baby D so independent and confident in the kitchen. He knows where to get the kitchen tools, put on his apron, peel the bananas and mash them, help mix the batter, and tells me when the oven is preheated and ready to go. We reduced the sugar in this recipe slightly as we deemed the amount called for would make the cake overly sweet. Furthermore, we would be adding chocolate chips to the cake/bread. Upon Baby D's request, we mixed 3/4 of the chocolate chips into the batter and sprinkled the balance on top of the cake.

My cute kitchen helper :)

My choc banana bread is ready!

Since our loaf tin was slightly smaller and we had leftover batter, we placed them in muffin cases. The cake turned out to be moist and fragrant, and we like the addition of the chocolate chips. Maybe a bit sweet eaten on its own, but with a glass of milk, it was just nice. Thanks Baby D for doing such a wonderful job!

Choc Banana Bread
Recipe adapted from here
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hr 15 mins
Serves 6


Ingredients
250g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
125g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
180g caster sugar
4 bananas, mashed
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
175g dark chocolate or milk chocolate chips


1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

2. Sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl.

3. Mix the butter, sugar, banana, eggs, vanilla extract and chocolate chips in a separate bowl.

4. Add to the dry ingredients and stir to combine, being careful not to overmix.

5. Pour the batter about 3/4 full into a lightly greased 19 x 11 cm (7 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch) loaf tin and bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until the bread is cooked when tested with a skewer.

6. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool. Serve in thick slices with butter. Makes 8 to 10 slices.

Note: I reduced sugar from 250g to 180g. We mixed 3/4 of the chocolate chips into the batter and sprinkled 1/4 on top (as per Baby D's request).  You can also bake them in muffin cases, and it will take about 25-30 minutes.

See here for more kids-friendly recipes.

***************

I am submitting this to the "Cook Like Bill Granger" event which I am co-hosting with Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Mich of Piece of Cake. To join, simply cook or bake any recipe from any Bill Granger websites or cookbooks for the whole month of November and December 2013. You can link your posts at one of the host's pages.

Your post must be a current post i.e. posted in November and December 2013 - please do not link older posts.Please mention Cook like a Star in your post and link back to Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Mich of Piece of Cake and Baby Sumo of Eat your heart out.

Happy cooking! Do check out the other bloggers recipe below:






If you enjoyed reading my posts, LIKE me on Facebook! Thanks :)