Banana and Chocolate Chip Loaf

Lately I’ve treated myself to some new cookbooks from my Amazon wish list. One of which was Cook in Boots by Ravinder Bhogal, lots of lovely recipes that I can’t wait to try (one of them being the Oreo Cheesecake)! The first recipe I tried from the book had to be this Banana Chocolate Chip Loaf, not only because I had ripe bananas and all the other ingredients to hand but as you know I can’t resist trying out new banana loaf recipes. This loaf is dense with nuts, dark chocolate and sweet mushy bananas and another great banana loaf variation. Definitely a winner and worthy of being book-marked! If you want to treat yourself to a new cookbook, I definitely recommend you buy Cook in Boots.

Banana and Chocolate Chip Loaf

Serves 8

Ingredients
250g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 pinch of sea salt
150g dark chocolate chips
100g chopped walnuts
50g unsalted butter
225g caster sugar
2 large eggs
3 medium bananas, mashed
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180oC/fan 160oC/350oF/gas 4. Line a large loaf tin with greaseproof paper.
Mix the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, mix the chocolate chips with the walnuts and coat with 1 tablespoon of the flour mixture.

In a mixing bowl or food processor, cream the butter and then add the sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and then pour in the mashed bananas and vanilla extract. You should now have a lovely, loose yellow batter. Finally, fold in the flour mixture and beat until you have a thick cake batter.

Pour one-third of the batter into the loaf tin, sprinkle with half the chocolate and walnut mixture and top with another third of the batter. Layer again with the remaining chocolate and walnut mix, then cover with the remaining batter. Run a knife through the depth of the batter in a zigzag pattern to disperse the chocolate and nuts.

Bake in the oven for 1 hour. Test it with a skewer to check it is cooked – if not, bake for a further 15 minutes. Let it cool completely before attempting to turn it out. Slice into thick slabs!