With a growing stock pile of over-ripe bananas in my freezer and a gluten-free friend coming over, this recipe ticked all the boxes. Dense and moist with little pockets of dark chocolate – a very delicious afternoon tea loaf.
INGREDIENTS
2 cups mashed, very ripe bananas (about 5 medium)
4 large eggs, size 7
¼ cup melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1½ cups roasted, unsalted peanuts, finely ground
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons chia seeds
1 teaspoon baking soda, sifted
¼ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
100 grams dark chocolate, roughly chopped (62% cocoa)
¼ cup shredded coconut
6 cup capacity loaf tin (mine was 12cm x 22cm and 7cm deep)
METHOD
Grease a 6-cup capacity loaf tin and line fully with baking paper.
Preheat the oven to 150°C fan bake.
Combine the bananas, eggs, butter and vanilla in a bowl.
Put the ground peanuts, coconut, brown sugar, chia seeds, baking soda, salt and nutmeg in another large bowl and combine well, making sure there are no lumps.
Add the banana mixture and fold everything together then stir in the chocolate.
Pour into the tin and scatter over the shredded coconut.
Bake for 30 minutes then loosely cover the top with foil to prevent it over-browning and bake for a further 50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool in the tin.
To serve: Cut into thick slices and serve dusted with icing sugar.
This loaf is best made 1 day ahead of serving and will keep in an airtight container for 4 days.
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In Dream Escape, we journey from Japan and Morocco to Italy, India and beyond, sharing recipes inspired by travel, heritage and comfort. We celebrate the champions of the Outstanding Food Producer Awards, explore the stories and recipes of chefs shaped by their cultural roots, and warm up with everything from West African soups and slow-braised lamb to porchetta, butter chicken and beef noodle soup. Alongside destination menus, Scandinavian sweets and cosy pub classics, Chrisanne Terblanche shares her favourite street-side dining spots in Bangkok, while Yvonne Lorkin explores red wine varietals. This issue, we invite you to slow down, turn the pages and escape through food.







