This Marbled Banana Bread is moist and easy to make. Delicious banana bread flavor with a beautiful chocolatey swirled center. Perfect for breakfast, brunch or a snack. No one will ever guess it’s vegan, egg-free and dairy-free too.
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Every slice of this marbled banana bread features lots of banana flavor and a thick ribbon of chocolate swirled throughout.
Why This Recipe Works
- Ease - Very easy to make. No mixer needed. You can make the batter in under 15 minutes.
- Great Flavor - Good banana with chocolate flavor thought-out and not overly sweet.
- Texture - It’s soft and moist.
Key Ingredients
- Banana - use overripe bananas. They should be soft and covered with a lot of dark speckles. They will provide sweetness, big banana flavor and moisture.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder - for rich chocolatey flavor.
- Brown Sugar - for sweetness and to help with moisture.
- Baking Powder & Baking Soda - both are chemical leaveners that work to create a light texture in the loaf.
- Neutral Tasting Oil & Vegan Spread - use a neutral tasting oil as to not overpower the flavor of the loaf. Both help to keep the bread moist. We like to use vegetable oil for this recipe.
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Recipe Variations
- For more chocolate flavor. Sprinkle the top with chocolate chips before baking.
- For a nutty twist. Add ½ cup of chopped pecans or walnuts to your batter.
Step-By-Step Instructions
Prep for Baking
TIP: Position a rack in the center of the oven to ensure your loaf bakes evenly. And for even better results, rotate the loaf pan halfway through the cooking time.
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350°F (180ºC). Lightly grease a 8×4 loaf pan and set aside.
Step 2: Start kettle for boiling water for use later.
Mix Dry Ingredients
Step 3: Begin by combining the dry ingredients - flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Whisk to combine. Set aside.
TIP: No need for a mixer for this recipe.
Step 4: In a large bowl add bananas and mash with fork.
Add wet ingredients - brown sugar, neutral tasting oil, non-dairy milk, room temperature butter, vanilla and coffee extract, vinegar or lemon juice and mix together until smooth.
Step 5: Now add dry mixture in half cup increments into bowl with wet ingredients.
Step 6: Mix until blended. Careful not to over-beat the batter as that can make the cake tough. The batter will be thick.
Step 7: Scoop out 1 cup of the batter and transfer it to a small bowl. Set both bowls aside.
Step 8: Now, in a small heatproof cup, mix the cocoa powder with 3 tablespoons boiling water and stir vigorously until the chocolate is dissolved. Add this chocolate mixture into the 1 cup of batter you set aside earlier and mix until the chocolate is thoroughly smooth and incorporated.
Step 9: Begin by adding the batter mixtures into the prepared 8.5"x4.5" loaf pan by alternating; first with ½ of banana flavor batter then adding the chocolate banana batter and topping with remaining banana batter.
Step 10: Once all of the batter is in the pan, take a butter knife or skewer and swirl it through the batter in circular directions. Swirl through top to bottom of the pan.
Bake
Step 11: Place pan in the center of the oven. Bake 70 to 75 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out batter-free. Or registers an internal temperature of 205° to 212F. (About 60 minutes in a 9"x5" loaf pan).
Cool the loaf in the pan on a rack for about thirty minutes, then remove, slice and enjoy.
Recipe FAQ
Cool the bread out of the pan. You should remove the bread from the pan as soon as it cool enough to remove. About ten minutes. This will prevent the bottom of the bread from sweating and becoming soggy. Allow the bread to cool completely on a cooling rack about 30 minutes before cutting and or storing.
Let it cool for 10 minutes — this helps the loaf solidify and makes it easier to remove from the pan. Remove from pan and cool another 10 minutes. Grasping the parchment paper sling, lift the loaf out of the pan and place on the cooling rack. Cool for another 10 minutes before slicing
1. Make sure to leave bananas out on the counter to ripen faster. Refrigerating bananas will slow the ripening process.
2. Storing bananas in a plastic bags will help them ripen faster.
3. Store bananas with fruits that emit high levels of ethylene like avocados, peaches, apples and tomatoes.
Storage
To Store. Let the loaf cool completely. Refrigerate the loaf up to 5 days.
To Freeze. Let cool completely. Cut into slices before freezing. Then wrap in foil and store in a freeze-safe bag or container. Store for up to 2 months. Defrost in the refrigerator overnight before serving.
Prepare In Advance. Yes you can and should. Banana bread actually tastes better the next day, after the natural sweetness and moisture of the bananas settles into the bread.
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📖 Recipe
Marbled Banana Bread
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup pecans or walnuts, chopped optional
Wet
- 1 cup well-mashed very ripe banana about 3 average-size well-speckled bananas for the sweetest flavor.
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons canola oil (or vegetable oil) Use a neutral tasting oil as to not overpower the flavour of the loaf. We like to use vegetable oil for this recipe.
- 2 tablespoons butter - melted
- ⅓ cup non-dairy milk - we use oat milk for this recipe
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoon coffee extract
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice - or vinegar
Marbling
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 4 tablespoons boiling water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease an 8 x 4 inch loaf pan and set aside.
- Start kettle for boiling water for use later.
Mix Dry Ingredients
- Begin by combining the dry ingredients - flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Whisk to combine. Set aside.
Mix Wet Ingredients
- In a large bowl add bananas and mash with fork until smooth.
- Add wet ingredients - brown sugar, neutral tasting oil, non-dairy milk, room temperature butter, vanilla and coffee extract, vinegar or lemon juice and mix together until smooth.
- Now add dry mixture in half cup increments into bowl with wet ingredients.
- Mix until blended. Careful not to over-beat the batter as that can make the cake tough. The batter will be thick.
- Scoop out 1 cup of the batter and transfer it to a small bowl. Set both bowls aside.
- Now, in a small heatproof cup, mix the cocoa powder with 3 tablespoons boiling water and stir vigorously until the chocolate is dissolved. Add this chocolate mixture into the 1 cup of batter you set aside earlier and mix until the chocolate is thoroughly smooth and incorporated.
- Alternating, begin by adding half of banana flavor batter mixture into the prepared 8.5"x4.5" loaf pan. Then adding the chocolate banana batter and finally topping with remaining banana batter.
- Once all of the batter is in the pan, take a butter knife or skewer and swirl it through the batter in circular directions. Swirl through top to bottom of the pan.
Bake
- Place pan in the center of the oven. Bake 70 to 75 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out batter-free. Or until it registers an internal temperature of 205° to 212F. (about 60 minutes in a 9"x5" loaf pan).
- Remove from oven and cool the loaf in the pan on a rack for about thirty minutes, then remove. Slice and serve.
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