Marbled Banana Bread

 

I tried Jessica Seinfeld’s banana bread with cauliflower purée, and it was fine. And then eventually I tried Deb Perelman’s marbled banana bread, and that was much more of a hit with my kids! 

3 large very ripe bananas 

½ cup (115 g) lactose-free butter, melted 

¾ cup (145 g) light brown sugar 

1 large egg 

1 tsp. baking soda 

1 tsp. vanilla extract 

¼ tsp. table or fine sea salt 

1 cup (130 g) plus ¼ cup (35 g) all-purpose flour 

½ tsp. ground cinnamon 

¼ cup (about 20 g) dark cocoa powder, sifted if lumpy 

¾ cup (130 g) chocolate chips (I used miniature chocolate chips) 

Heat oven to 350 °F. Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan. 

Melt butter in the bottom of a large bowl in the microwave. Mash the bananas right into it until mostly smooth. Whisk in brown sugar, egg, baking soda, vanilla, and salt until thoroughly combined. Add 1 cup of the flour, stirring just until it disappears. 

Pour half of batter into a second bowl. (You can eyeball it, it’s fine. Or you can know that Deb Perelman’s batter halves were roughly 365 grams each, but weights will vary with banana sizes.) Into one bowl, stir the remaining ¼ cup of flour and ground cinnamon. Into the other bowl, stir in the cocoa powder and chocolate chips. 

Dollop batters in large alternating spoonfuls into bottom of prepared loaf pan. Attempt to “checkerboard” the rest in, roughly meaning that you’ll drop a chocolate batter dollop on top of a chocolate-free one and vice-versa until both batters are used up. Use a butter knife or small offset spatula to make a few figure-8s through the batters, marbling them together — but just a little, say, 2 to 3 figure-8s. Any more and the swirls may not look distinct when you cut the cake. 

Bake 55 to 65 minutes, until a tester or toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out batter-free. (A melted chocolate chip smear is expected, however.) Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then run a knife around the edge and invert it out onto a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.