I always have the best of intentions when I buy barely yellow bananas at the grocery store. I have visions of healthy breakfast shakes, peanut butter and banana sandwiches, and healthy mid afternoon snacks. Without fail the bananas turn brown and speckled. They start to mush and sink into themselves. They just become all around unsexy. They threaten to spread they’re over exposure to the unsuspecting apples and oranges in the same bowl, and we simply can’t tolerate that!
I should just come to terms with the real reason that I buy bananas- so that I can mix them with chocolate and try to pass them off as breakfast. This Chocolate Chocolate Chip Banana Bread is attempt to do just that- eat loads of chocolate and say yes! Yes, I ate a glorious breakfast!
There is satisfaction in that, to be sure!
This quick bread comes out more like a delicious chocolate cake than a traditional banana bread- that wouldn’t have anything to do with the truck load of chocolate in the bread, would it? It’s tender and moist and has an absolutely beautiful undercurrent of banana flavor. Try it for breakfast. Milk is essential, or good coffee. And that’s a start to a beautiful day, lovebird.
Chocolate Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick (8 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (packed) light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 ripe bananas, mashed
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9×5 inch loaf pan and place it on an insulated baking sheet or on two regular baking sheets one on top of the other. This extra insulation will keep the bottom of the bread from overbaking.
Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt ad baking soda.
Working with a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed for about a minute until soft. Add the sugars and beat for 2 minutes more. Add the egs one at a time, beating for a minute after each addition. At this point , the batter may look a little curdled- it’s ok. Reduce the mixer speed to low and mix in the mashed bananas. Add the dry ingredients in three additions, mixing only until they disappear into the batter. Still on low sweep, add the buttermilk, mixing until it is incorporated. Stir in the chopped chocolate. Scrape batter into prepared pan.
Bake for 3o minutes. Cover the bread loosely with a foil tend to keep the top from getting too dark, and continue to bake for another 40-45 minutes (total baking time is between 70 and 75 minutes), or until a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for at least 20 minutes before running a knife around the edges of the bread and unmolding it. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.
Jen
Is this made with dutch process cocoa?
joythebaker
Hello Jen, you can definitely make this with dutch process cocoa!
Marya
AMAZING, dense and delicious. I would’ve maybe done a bit more banana because the chocolate is rich, but it’s GOOD.
hira
Hello, I made this two days ago, and it turned out perfect. Just absolutely perfect. Thank you so much! :) I am new to baking and I felt like awesome baking such an amazingly tasty bread. I was wondering can I replace the all-purpose flour with wholewheat flour without changing anything else in the recipe. Do you think it would turn out okay ?
Alli
I made these today with my little dude (following in mama’s foodsteps…). He insisted on muffins instead of bread so we tossed them in some tins and baked for 18 minutes. So. Freakin’. Good. That kid is smart. ;) Going to give a few to the neighbors so I don’t have to lay down to zip my shorts. Thanks for another great recipe! You rule!
elisa
So I’m reading this recipe, drooling over the photos and then I see where the recipe comes from and I’m like,hey I have that cookbook. I open the book to see that I have this recipe dog eared to make one day. I guess it’s meant to be made. I’ll be trying this weekend.
Anna Eloise
I Love it. :3
Made it for baking class, my teacher gave me an A.
Stephanie
I’m going to attempt to make muffins instead of a loaf to reduce baking time. Hope it comes out okay!
Berenice
wait 20 minutes!? yeah right….I have a burned tongue to prove my impatience but it was sooooo worth it…chocolatey goodness yummmmmmmmmmm! Thanks Joy, you know exactly what a girl needs.
Hilda
I’m praying that my bananas make it through the night so that I can bake this in the morning. Today was just too hot to even think about turning the oven on. I don’t have buttermilk so I might try to make some by adding lemon to whole milk. I can hardly wait!
Bailey W.
Just popped this in the oven!! Used soy milk instead of buttermilk so I hope it’s not too dry.
Kristen Anderson
This really is more like a cake than a bread. I’m going to serve it with a berry sauce and whipped cream.
robindana
Smells delicious honeyssss!! Baking now!
Lauren
I thoroughly approve of this banana bread. My household has the opposite problem of yours unfortunately – bananas are the first of the fruits to be eaten and NEVER seem to get to the ‘mushy and oh so perfect for cake’ stage….I think I need to buy some and hide them
debbie
Delicious! I tripled it and made mini loaves in addition to one big loaf. for the mini loaf tins (eight per tin) it takes about 25 minutes to bake. thanks!
Jolene
Just made this today and it is wonderful. Smells heavenly while baking, and was moist and delicious, topped with whipped cream. A great after school snack–hey it’s nutritious with the bananas, right? :-)
Alison
I have made the chocolate banana bread from an America’s Test Kitchen cookbook, and they have you grate baking chocolate into the batter. I have to say, the cocoa powder is a lot easier!
Jen
INSANE. Only word to describe. I even ‘healthified’ this bread by using organic spelt flour and substituting half of the butter with applesauce. 3/4 of the loaf is gone this evening, it was baked this am. I am the only one who has eaten it. Yikes. Yes, that good. THANK YOU for a great quick bread recipe. A friend just introduced me to your site and I love reading it. You are so witty and hilarious, love it:)
Amy
Joy… my mom made this today after I had e-mailed her my find from some of your older posts. It was insane. Moist, chewy, GOOEY. As we stood at the counter using our fingers… my mom said she felt like she should just bathe in it. Can’t wait to share it with everyone.
Thanks for another great one!
Brendy
Baking now!!!! It smells delicious!!!!A big hug from Puerto Rico!!!!!
Abby
OHhhhhhh this is perfection… you are the Queen of baked goods….. I loved this so much I hope to blog about it later in the week :)
jodye @ 'scend food
I’ve definitely made chocolate chip banana bread, but never have I gone ahead and turned the whole loaf into a mass of chocolate deliciousness. Good call on this one, I have some overripe bananas that are just dying to be mashed up and baked.
I love cake
I made this and the batter overflowed! I’m not sure what went wrong. Luckily the overflow was caught by the baking sheet and is really nice to eat warm while waiting to take the cake out of the tin…
Tonya
If you want to ripen bananas or avocados then put them with apples. The acid in apples ripen the fruit and vegetable. Hope this helps someone:)
cristina
long-time lurker on your website– which i love very much! tried this recipe today, but used 1 and a half cups APF, then 1/2 cup cake flour instead. just to see what it was like. Not bad actually, though it came out a little dense. Still yummy though. next time i will stick to your recipe. :) Sending love all the way from the Philippines! :)
Emily
Yum! I just made this and having my first slice. It’s so good. I can’t wait to check out more of your recipes!
Lauren
i can’t wait to make this for valentines day! it looks delish!
Katya Simkhovich
Ironically, I have the complete opposite problem with bananas. They go so quickly in my house that we often have to make another run to the store during the week just for bananas, and there’s only three of us. So all these banana recipes, they mock me…they look delicious and I want to bake them and smell them and eat them… but the perfectly ripe and ready for consumption bananas in our fruit bowl stare back and mock me… until of course they are gone within a few days, if not hours and then we have to buy more bananas that will never have the chance to aspire to become bread, or cupcakes, or cookies. Sigh.
Rheannon
I read the title of this bread to my husband and his only response was, make it! Haha, I am thinking it is going to make a great Sunday breakfast! Thanks for a wonderful idea!
Tracey
Right now, this is cooking. It smells so good (and the batter tastes great!). I’m so excited to eat it! Thanks, Joy!
Katie
The dopeness! Seriously.
Gail
I made this yesterdat they! Lovely. I cut the cocoa tto half and used more bananas than called for flavor. Very moist and yummy! A big hit! Love the blog Joy!
cheryl
Elsie – You can add 1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice to 1 cup of milk as a substitution for buttermilk. I’ve done this several times and it worked out fine.
cheryl
I just made this chocolate banana bread. OMG – this is insane delicious. I wish I could post a picture of how beautiful the whole thing looks, rustic and tall. It tastes so divine. I am thinking about making Joy’s recipe for Homemade Fudge Sauce and drizzling some over the top and I am definitely making some homemade whipped cream to go with this. I love you Joy!
elsie
can buttermilk be substituted with ? where i live in shanghai, buttermilk is not popular here. tx
claudia
I used plain yogurt!
Jessica
I made this the other week and it was fantastic – really beautiful sponge and it stayed moist for days (thanks in large part to the ‘nanas I’m sure!). My only slight criticism is that the cocoa was a little over the top – I would reduce it by about 1/4cup next time.
Oh and yes, be warned if you use a hand mixer that this batter is incredibly thick and there is lots of it, so by the final addition of dry ingredients you have to be very careful not to end up with batter in all your mechanisms!
But I will DEFINITELY be making this again.
Margot
My, oh my!! This is the best chocolate banana bread I’ve ever had. I made it last weekend for the first time and am just about to make it again…it makes facing Monday morning much brighter! Thanks Joy!!
Sarah
I made this tonight, and it’s very good. We ate it for dessert, but it would be yummy for breakfast too. I think I’ll take some in to work tomorrow to share!
joan j
ok- i tried to make this, and to say i had a problem would be an understatement.
never attempt to convert US measurements lol…
or use 80% cocoa chocolate… it makes it soo tangy and bitter
i was gutted to find that although mine smelt like amazing chocolatey banana goodness, it tasted like pure cocoa, and no banana…
and on top of this i am now mourning the loss of my beloved hand mixer, which could not handle my moment of banana bread madness :(
steffi
in theory this recipe sounded like a piece of heaven … chocolate and banana, it seems so obvious! so i made it this weekend, and it smelled delicious and the batter was so yummy… but while the finished product smells just like banana bread, it tastes purely of chocolate. and i cut the amount of cocoa in half! and my bananas were at that scary ripe stage of brownness. where did i go wrong?!
Alyse
Just made this! It was amazing!
ThatsSoYummy
This looks delish…. I make banana bread all the time and have been wondering how it would taste with chocolate added to the mix.
Will have to try….. Thanks for sharing!
Jarvis
Great photographs! You probably used a very high quality camera haah.
Besides the cake looks very very very very delicious…no kiddin
Stacey
I made this bread and it was goooooood. I backed off the cocoa a little to keep the banana and chocolate flavor equal. I used a little more flour and a little over half the required cocoa.
Man this bread is awesome!!! Unbelievable!!!
Christine
These look like just what the doctor ordered… I am entering that once every 28-ish days must have chocolate or bodily harm will ensue thing… ;)
Thanks for always coming through, Joy! :)
~Christine
Teresa
I made this bread last night to bring in for work and OH MY! So delicious…one question, how would the cooking times change if I wanted to make this into muffins (mini, regular, and jumbo) rather than one large loaf?
Domestic Fashionista
I am visiting via Michelle at Chocolate and Marmalade Tea. She posted this recipe and it looks delicious. Cannot wait to make it! Thanks for sharing. :)
rainbow cuisine
Oh my! your recipe are fab. I baked this morning and …. just have it as afternoon tea with Mariage black fruity tea … sooooo good. It’s way better than traditional banana bread!
I mixed them by hand mixer … so tired but worth !!!! thankssss.
rainbow cuisine
Perfect pair!! chocolate and banana …. i just bought bananas yesterday, can’t wait to bake this weekend.
Thanks a bunch for sharing recipes and insightful tips, especially how to prepare the pan with double baking sheet. My recipe is yogurt banana bread with walnut. Taste is good. Texture is soft but a little bit dry on top. Will try again with your tips. Thanks.
Dawnie
Joy! This is another fabulous example of when the picture can sell a recipe! It’s not photographed in her book, and for me, I need to see it! I’ve now made it about 5 times since your post! Knowing it had the possibility of darkening with that long bake time, I divided up the batter into TWO loaf pans. Baked for 40 minutes (rotated around midway), placed on the baking sheet too. DEEElish! Thank you for opening my eyes to this recipe! It’s a keeper!
Mari
OMG, that looks so decadent and delicious!
Miri
Gorgeous cake you made there, Joy, it looks sooo tasty! The stunning photos made me want to eat my screen!
Sue
MMMM…I’m thinking maybe I might make this and add a little peanut butter to it….chocolate & peanut butter are great together…bananas and peanut butter are great together…why not??
Stefani
Can I have some too!
michael
hello, i just found the site via StumbleUpon. I don’t know how the recipes taste, but the photos are fantastic. Thumbs up from me.
Katie
Mmmm chocolate and banana – a match made in heaven
Marilyn
I buy bananas for the exact same reason. Sometimes they make it into yogurt for breakfast (which is another addiction of mine), but they usually turn brown and make it into banana bread. I’ve made this exact same recipe (which I love), but here’s a hybrid that I love even more: Rum Drenched Cocoa-Nana Bread from Habeas Brulee (http://habeasbrulee.com/2007/06/11/rum-drenched-cocoa-nana-bread/). It’s deadly.
missy
i seriously can’t stop staring…no better combination than chocolate + banana and i love how dark and chocolately the bread looks…so moist and cakey!
yer mom
hey, if you keep your bananas with your apples, that’s why they go bad so fast. apples emit gases that cause other produce to ripen and rot. you should really keep your apples separate from other produce, even in the refrigerator.
Kelly
This looks scrumptious enough to tempt me from my tried-and-true banana bread recipe! I can just about taste the chocolate. :D
Leslie
Funny..I never buy bananas to eat..just bake! This looks wonderful!
Zoe Francois
I have a basket of VERY ripe bananas and a love of chocolate. Just got a signed copy of Dorie’s book, but haven’t used it yet. Perhaps this will be my first recipe!
Thanks, Zoë
Amanda
this read is seriously addicting.i make it all the time and it’s crazy-good. I think it’s called the cocoa nanner bread in the book, right I like to make it with sour cream though.The crumb it produces is moist yet tight.
brilynn
You can’t go wrong with a Dorie recipe! This is a great one!
Eli
Chocolate for breakfast? I’m in!
Melody
This looks so delicious Joy!
latifa
hmmmm…..i have dorei cookbook, but i don’t remember seeing this recipe. it’s looks delicious. chocolate and banana are my favorites!
i’ll check the bok a gain
Nikki57
That looks like the perfect breakfast ever!
Mary
OH now that would be one delicious cakey breakfast! It looks fabulous!
Gigi
Hmm, I just bought bananas that are more green than yellow. Maybe I should let them get all spotty so I can have a “…glorious breakfast”? Oooh, Joy! You’re always tempting with amazing goodies! :)