Black Banana Bread
FitMenCook
My name is Kevin. My life changed when I realized that healthy living is truly a lifelong journey, mainly won by having a well-balanced diet and enjoying adequate exercise. By experimenting in the kitchen and openly sharing my meals, I learned that healthy eating is hardly boring and that by making a few adjustments, I could design a diet that could help me achieve my personal fitness goals. Our bodies are built in the kitchen and sculpted in the gym.
What do you get when you add dark chocolate and black cacao to traditional banana bread?
Magic. You get pure delicious, decadent magic.
This is one of those recipes that uses a not-so common ingredient – black cacao – but can be easily substituted by adding swapping it with dark chocolate (or regular cacao) powder, but the color will not be as dark. Black cacao is a Dutch-processed cocoa powder that is “washed” with a solution of potassium carbonate in order to neutralize the acidity (or bitterness) of cacao.
When it’s done this way, the cacao is pretty mellow in flavor, NOT bitter at all and is very black, like onyx. If you know people that avoid dark chocolate because of its bitterness, black cacao – even though it’s darker – may be more pleasing. When you use it in baking recipes, it should be used as an “accent,” not a 1-for-1 swap for cacao or chocolate powder.
It’s not a common product in most grocery stores, but you can find it online. Find it, order it and try something new!
PRO-TIP: to better help with portion control, make these into muffins instead!
Black Banana Bread
Ingredients for 15 slices
I used a 9-inch by 5-inch pan
- Dry
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 3/4 cup cacao (or 60% dark chocolate) powder
- 3 tablespoons black cacao – IF YOU CANNOT FIND IT, SIMPLY REMOVE
- Note: if you replace this with more dark chocolate powder, it will slightly increase the bitterness, which may be too much for some, so you’ll need to add more sugar or Stevia to compensate.
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- pinch of salt
- Wet
- 5 ripe bananas, chopped
- 3 eggs
- 1/3 cup coconut oil
- 1 cup 2% Greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon Stevia in the raw
- 3/4 cup dark chocolate chunks (optional but recommended; just add less if needed)
- Set oven to 350F/177C.
- Mix together the dry ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.
- Add ripe bananas to a larger bowl and blend together using a hand mixer. Blend until smooth with only a few small chunks, about 3 to 5 minutes.
- Add remaining wet ingredients to the bowl, then blend until smooth.
- Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and continue stirring so it doesn’t clump. If the mixture is too dry, add tablespoons of (almond) milk until it thins out some. It should be a thick, smooth and somewhat sticky batter.
- Fold in the chocolate chunks – but reserve about 2 tablespoons for the topping garnish – using a spatula.
- Spray a baking dish (or muffin pan) with nonstick baking spray or olive oil, then add the batter. Top it off with the remaining chocolate chunks.
- Bake in the oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the top has hardened and splintered, and you can pierce the bread with a toothpick and it comes out clean.
- Allow it to cool for a few minutes before removing it from the baking dish and slicing.
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