Cake-of-the-week for the Heavenly Cakes bake-along is a nice change of pace to a quick bread, not a cake. This one is a combination banana/zucchini/carrot bread with nuts, not too sweet. Very suitable for a breakfast bread, to my tastes.When the bread assembly started, I had been making something else (some unsuccessful chocolate chunk scones, for the curious) and had a partial bag of mini dark-chocolate chunks from Whole Foods out on the counter. It seemed like dark chocolate would be another nice addition to the bread--banana and chocolate generally combine nicely. I added about 1/3 cup of chocolate chunks along with the toasted pecans that I substituted for the walnuts. There's no cacao percentage on the bag that I can find, but it's quite a dark chocolate.
The batter uses a combination of brown sugar and white, a moderate amount of banana (less than one large one), a little zucchini, and a little carrot. I weighed all of these as I went, and appreciated having the weights given in the recipe. I always dislike those recipes that just say "1 banana" or "1 zucchini" or even "1 medium banana"...sizes vary so. The mix of zucchini and carrot makes the loaf very colorful when it's cut.
I baked the bread in a Pyrex loaf pan, reducing the oven temperature down to 325 as usual for glass. The loaf took more than 10 minutes longer than the 35-45 minutes stated in the recipe before it reached the right temperature. Maybe this was the glass pan and temperature difference, maybe there was also some effect from another 1/3 cup of stuff (chocolate!) in the batter.
Taste results: a very nice quick bread. It sliced nicely, was not too sweet, and had a great texture. The nuts give a nice crunch, and the chocolate was definitely a good idea--it gave a nice taste accent and helps even more with the "not too sweet" part of the bread. I'll make it again, and will keep the chocolate in there.- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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ReplyDeleteMmm, dark chocolate sounds like a great idea.
My sister was here while I was baking the bread. It's very similar to a muffin she makes which includes chocolate chips. Sounds like a great addition.
ReplyDeleteHmm..such a great idea to add chocolate!! I should have tried with that instead of my stupid cashew nuts idea..hahaha..
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea to add chocolate. I happen to love banana + chocolate. The bread was a big hit over here too (I'm lucky in that I got to bake it with Marie!!). I'm with you on the "1 banana" thing, so I stopped making those types of recipes.
ReplyDeletechocolate! what a brilliant addition. thanks for the tip!
ReplyDeleteOh, heck ya! Chocolate-brilliant!!!
ReplyDeleteGood idea to add the chocolate! I've made banana muffins with chocolate chips, and those were very tasty so I might have to try the bread with them sometime. I agree with you about the recipes that say 1 banana. Even if they don't list a weight they should at least put number of cups of mashed banana.
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures and it sounds like the chocolate addition was a good one!
ReplyDelete:)
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