I have a theory about baked goods: If there’s sour cream in it, it’s going to be great. Sour cream adds richness, tanginess, and, because of the way it interacts with the baking soda, lift. It’s the secret ingredient that makes this chocolate banana bread, from Jessie Sheehan’s Snackable Bakes (one of my favorite baking books), such a treat. Think: chocolate cake mashed up with banana bread, with all the best qualities of each.
You probably already have the other ingredients around the house, assuming you keep bananas around the house. (I do, and I let them get really, really black before baking with them.) Then there’s cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, salt, vegetable oil, sugar, vanilla, egg, and sour cream. Oh, and did I mention chocolate chips? Yeah, there are chocolate chips in there too.
I don’t know about you, but seeing a batter like this in a bowl makes me feel like a nine-year-old, standing at the sink, waiting to get my hands on an egg beater to lick off every bit that I can. Only now I’m an adult and I suppose if I wanted to I could eat all of that batter with a spoon. But why do that when you can bake it for an hour and get this:
Call it breakfast. Call it dessert. Call it a snack. Call it whatever you want — banana chocolate cake, chocolate banana bread — but whatever you call it, make sure you save a slice for me, because ours is all gone and I’m sad.
The Ultimate Chocolate Banana Bread
From Snackable Bakes by Jessie Sheehan
Cooking spray (or softened butter)
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder (I like Valrhona)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips (If you add a little more, I won’t tell anybody)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/4 cup créme fraiche or sour cream
1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 very ripe ones)
Heat the oven to 350°F. Grease an 8.5 x 4.5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray or softened butter. Line the bottom with a large sheet of parchment that extends up and over the two long sides of the pan. (This makes it easy to lift the cake out later!)
Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk in the chocolate chips. (This keeps them from sinking to the bottom when you bake!) In separate bowl, combine the sugar, oil, and vanilla, and whisk for 30 seconds. Mix in the egg, then the créme fraiche or sour cream and, finally, the bananas. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet with a rubber spatula just until the last streak of flour disappears. Don’t over-mix or the loaf will turn out tough.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 65 to 70 minutes, rotating the pan at the halfway point. The bread is done when a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out with a moist crumb or two.
Remove from the oven and let it cool in the pan for about 20 minutes. Using the parchment overhang, lift the loaf out of the pan and let it cool to room temperature before serving (if you can wait that long).
Adam Roberts writes the bi-weekly newsletter The Amateur Gourmet (a spin-off of his legendary blog of the same name), and his most recent book is Food Person, which we loved. Adam lives with his husband, Craig, and dog, Winston, in a cabin in Brooklyn.
Thank you, Adam! We love you. And a few more Adam recipe recs: the best sticky buns ever, chocolate pecan pie, and peppermint patty brownies.
P.S. Adam’s seven rules for being good dinner party host and his Brooklyn house tour.
(Photos courtesy of Adam Roberts. This post first appeared on The Amateur Gourmet.)
