Banana, Oat, Date and Chocolate Loaf

From Overripe Bananas to Culinary Triumph, a Journey from a childhood scoldings to a successful semi healthy bake!

Banana Bake

I remember as a child, getting a scolding once for reaching for the perfect banana that had just come in from the supermarket. There was a brown one left in the bowl that needed eating first. From that point forward, there seemed to be an unspoken rule that I always had to take the ripest one, despite my best efforts. This always meant the perfect one wouldn't be so the next day, always out of reach and inevitably too ripe for my liking. It felt a bit unjust, never getting to enjoy that perfect banana!

Despite always having overripe bananas, we did very little baking in our house when I was younger. It wasn't until later that I discovered the magic of transforming those neglected bananas into something delicious through baking. As they ripen, their sugars intensify, making the fruit sweeter and enhancing the flavour and crumb of baked goods.

Roll forward a good few years, and it feels odd now when I write this, how we now specifically buy a few extras and guard them from the boys in order to ripen to perfection! If only I'd known way back that ripe bananas were perfect for the oven. I might have had a cheeky retort, a defense for choosing the banana of my liking from that wooden bowl!

This week, I was given a choice: tackle the ironing or try my hand at some baking.

Tough call, right? At the mere mention of ripe bananas and baking, my heart longs for Nigel's Chocolate Muscovado Banana Cake.

Obviously, I headed straight to the bookshelf and reached for the Kitchen Diaries II. Nigel has a banana bread recipe that I go back to time and time again. It's fudgy and decadent, made with muscovado sugar and dark chocolate, and it sits perfectly in the afternoon with a brew.

Then the angel on my shoulder says bake something healthy, or was it more the shout from the lady upstairs! The healthy recipe is left out, just beside the ripe bananas... what is a guy to do?

Something my wife makes from The Savy Cook by Izy Hossack. It keeps the wolf from the door between lunch and dinner.

Conflicted... the mad scientist in me appears as a lightning bolt hits the kitchen... why not a hybrid bake? I cut back the sugar on one, and can't help keeping the eggs on the other. I keep the oats; it would be crazy to do otherwise, and I'm that kind of guy. I swap the butter for olive oil. I pull back on the chocolate and add some finely chopped dates.

I bash it in the oven, do the "oh this is so experimental" dance, and busy myself for a while!

I'm quite pleased with the result—a moment of creativity and craziness... I raise my fist in triumph. I will not let the ripe bananas of my youth get the better of me!

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Banana, Oat, Date and Chocolate Loaf

This recipe is perfect for those forgotten bananas languishing in the bowl. Otherwise, you might need to find a fruit shop with a few old ones to sell (perhaps even reduced) or buy a few and keep them aside for next week’s bake.

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A loaf tin, lined with baking paper and the oven at at 180℃

• Golden Caster Sugar - 50g

• Olive Oil - 100g

• Bananas, Ripe - 3

• baking powder - 1.5tsp

• Porridge Oats - 100g

• Milk - 4 tbsp

• Wholemeal Plain flour - 150g

• Eggs - 2

• Chopped Dates - 50g - Finely chopped

• Dark Chocolate - 50g - Chopped like gravel

Method:

1. Preheat Oven: Preheat your oven to 180°C/Gas 4 (350°F). Grease and line a loaf tin, roughly 24cm x 12cm x 7cm

2. Mix Wet Ingredients:

   • In a large bowl, beat the sugar with the olive oil until well combined

   • Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition

3. Prepare Bananas:

   • In a separate bowl, mash the bananas until smooth

   • Add the milk to the mashed bananas and mix well

   • Add the chopped dates to this mix, in order to stop them sticking, give a good mix

4. Combine Ingredients:

   • Fold the mashed banana mixture into the egg mixture until just combined

   • Fold in the chocolate

   • Gradually fold in the flour and baking powder

5. Bake:

   • Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf tin

   • Bake in the preheated oven for 45-50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean

6. Cool and Serve:

   • Allow the cake to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

   • Slice and enjoy your delicious banana bread with a cup of tea or coffee!

Enjoy your baking!

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Banana Loaf Steps

The finished beast - just out the oven

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