Makes 12 slices
I was sooo totally kidding when I tweeted that I was working on a book called “Vegan Loafs Gone Wild”, and yet here I am with another lower-fat loaf! I don’t know, something about the ease of the loaf pan, the leisurely cooking time, and just the absolute loafiness of it.
Here we’ve got something that reminds me of pressing my face against the glass dessert case at my neighborhood Jewish bakery. Marbled treats were a childhood fascination and they still hold some of that “How did you do that?” wonder. What can I say, swirls of cocoa are an impressive feat!
It takes a little extra work, and a few extra mixing bowl, but isn’t it worth it to awaken that childhood intrigue? This banana bread is perfectly banana-y, and not too sweet. The outside of the loaf is a little crunchy after being baked, but if you leave it in Tupperware or plastic wrap at room temp overnight, it gets very moist. It tastes great both ways!
1 cup mashed very ripe banana
3/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 tablespoons canola oil
1/3 cup almond milk (or your preferred non-dairy milk)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
6 tablespoons boiling water, divided
Prepare boiling water, no need to measure yet. Also, preheat oven to 350 F.
Mash the banana in a large mixing bowl until relatively smooth. It should take 3 average sized ones, but spoon the mashed ‘nanas into a measuring cup to make sure, then return to the mixing bowl. Beat in the sugar, canola oil, milk and vanilla.
Now add the flour, baking soda and salt and gently mix just to incorporate. It’s okay if there is some flour still visible, just be careful not to overmix at this point.
Scoop one cup of the batter up and transfer it to a separate mixing bowl. Now, in a small tea cup mix the cocoa powder with 3 tablespoons boiling water and stir vigorously with a fork until the chocolate is dissolved. Add this chocolate mixture to the one cup of banana and mix until the chocolate is thoroughly smooth and incorporated.
Now back to the original plain banana batter; add 3 tablespoons of boiling water and mix the batter just until relatively smooth.
Here comes the fun part, it’s time to marble! Lightly grease an 8×4 loaf pan. Scoop alternate 1/2 cupfuls of chocolate/banana batter into the loaf pan. Nothing has to be precise here, in fact, the more random, the better. Once all of the batter is in, take a butter knife and swirl it through the batter in circular directions for about 10 seconds.
Bake for 55 minutes. Use a butter knife to test for doneness. Let cool and enjoy!
You know my favorite thing about vegan baking, i can eat the batter and not worry about getting sick!! 😀
any idea if this would work with GF flours? my daughter has egg and dairy allergies so this would be perfect for her, but my husband has celiac, so the flour portion wouldn’t work for him, and i would love, love, love a recipe that i could make for the whole family! thanks!
Wow this was incredible. I added a handful of chopped walnuts, used 1/2 whole wheat flour, and 1/2 all purpose. The recipe made 12 muffins. I just filled them a tablespoon at a time, going white/dark/white/dark. The marbling was very evident and they came moist and delicious. They cooked for about 20 minutes. Thanks for the recipe!
assuming we are all looking at low-fat recipes because we are counting fat/calories, i took the liberty of doing quick nutrition info and decided to share my findings! 1/8 of the loaf= 220 calories, 4g fat, 48 carbs, 3g protein. Not bad considering 1/8 is more than a sliver, and has alot less than starbucks banana bread (390/serving). I might try this one today… I only have 2 bananas so I might get crazy and replace the last one with a flaxseed/water mixture…hooray for omega-3s! 🙂
This is really tasty, moist and light. Just popped it out of the pan and it’s going FAST.
I love this recipe!!!!!!! i made it for my father in law and his friends wanted recipe! (and they are in no way vegan! or close to it!)
I wish you would do the Vegan Loafs Gone Wild book. I love a good loaf. Something so old-fashioned and sweet about it. This one looks lovely. I can’t wait to try it. Seeing as I made a banana bread and some berry oat bars today, it will have to wait until tomorrow. 😉
I made this loaf for a weekend get away with some of my fello Yoginis ,and it was a huge hit. Thank you for this wonderful twist on a banana loaf. I loved it and it was so so moist!
I made this in muffin form. I added 1 + 1/4 cup of banana, almond extract (I was out of vanilla), 4 tablespoons of cocoa powder instead of 3. I baked them for 20 minutes. They came out perfectly. Moist, great banana flavor, and the chocolate bits are amazing. I can’t wait for my hubby to come home and try on!!
I tried this recipe today and it tastes good, BUT it came out soooo flat…. I don’t know what went wrong. However the marble does look pretty.
Perhaps too big of a loaf pan?
Seriously awesome. I subbed out half of the A.P. flour for whole wheat with awesome results. The marbled pattern was slightly less prominent, but was obviously visible. And because I am a deviant, I through some vegan chocolate chips in with the chocolate batter. This will be my go-to banana bread recipe from now on! Thanks!!
Sooo good, just like everything I’ve made on post punk! a couple subs…. I didn’t have white sugar so I used brown sugar and I used wheat flour instead of all purpose. I could not find my bread pans ANYWHERE (my demise for bringing banana bread to work) so I used a 5×8 and baked it for only 35 minutes. The swirl came out awesome and my carnivore boyfriend already ate almost half. Success!
Also to the peeps that had bread come out too flat (I used a larger pan and it still was decently thick) check the expiration date on your baking soda-I have a nasty habbit of keeping it too long, therefore making it ineffective.. Also make sure you are putting in enough salt, it works hand in hand with the baking soda. Good luck!
Dear Isa,
Thankyou for this great recipe. I made it with fine ground wholemeal flour and it turned out really well.
I live in New Zealand and would love to see you down here for a visit spreading your vegan magic.
This was amazing. unbelievably moist.
this was totally flat for me, too! the marbling was super fun though and it looks so impressive–the prefect baking mistake to take to work and win the favor of my co-workers. 😉 next time, i’ll try more baking powder and making a longer bake time? thanks!
ah ha, the recipe calls for baking soda…not baking powder…oops…
I made this tonight. It’s yummy, by the loaf is flat. I followed the recipe. I live at 3500 ft, could the altitude be a problem?
thanks for the great recipe. I made mine with the addition of the walnuts and whole wheat flower. Yum. Yum…
Word up! made this today. It made me feel like a Baking Goddess.
Doubled the recipe and made 4 mini-loaves. Instead of marbling I mixed it all together at the end. They rose beautifully and look very impressive. I cooked the mini-loaves for 55 minutes.
Thank you for another great recipe.
I made today and was disappointed because it didn’t come out the same as picture….very flat and not “bread” like. More like a dense cake. The only thing I did different was used coconut oil instead of canola and used 1/2 cup of sugar instead of 3/4.
My daughter made this usiing spelt, amaranth and Kamut flours.
It was a s great success at a group workshop.
I just made this recipe. It is AMAZING!!! Thank you for posting this. I now want to buy all of your books!!!
This is perfection. I just made this at high altitude in a 9×9 pan. Took about 45 minutes.
I make this again and again. It is my very favorite banana, chocolate great anytime thingy. Thanks so much!
Turned out really bad, with hard top and chewy, too soft (almost not ready) inside. I also did not like the taste. Weird, I did everything per recipe.
wow, just made these..i used 2 tbsp earth balance instead of oil (didn’t have any), added a bit more cocoa (can we say chocoholic?) and turned them into muffins (15 muffins/18 minutes, thanks to whoever posted that lil tip). OMG, these are absolutely to die for!
I’ve made this several times, it’s one of my favorite recipes. It’s also easy enough that my 6 year old niece was able to help out (even though it looks super fancy!). Mine has always come out VERY dense and moist, but I like it.
This is so GOOD!!! Thank you for the recipie!!!
This really is CRAZY good. As in, watch out, you’ll probably eat the whole loaf over the course of one single day. Or at least, I will.
Made this for a small group this morning. People were astonished that it’/s vegan. One said she can’t believe it doesn’t have butter in it. Moist and wonderful – and very fun to swirl the chocolate in.
Flatness: Looks like compared to the other banana bread recipe you have, this one does have the baking soda, but forgot the Vinegar!
In the oven–can’t wait to try it! I’m not a big “loaf” person, so I am baking the batter in a cupcake pan. Does that make them muffins lol 🙂
Adjusting baking time accordingly bc they are in a different pan. Going to check them sooner than later!
Love love love this loaf! I make it at least twice a month and purposely buy very ripe bananas so I can. Thanks so much for an outstanding banana bread.
Ummm…..banana bread perfected. I love the idea of marbling cocoa into the loaf. I can’t wait to try this version out at home. I’m sure it’ll be a real hit.
Thank you for an amazing choconana bonanzarama! This worked very well with all white whole wheat flour. Still rose very nicely, had that lovely crack down the top, and tasted delicious despite being lowfat. This is a keeper for us.
This turned out great–no problems with it rising. Just a delicious beautiful loaf of yum!