Easy banana bread with dark chocolate

It was a cold, wet evening with Christmas lights twinkling in the distance. Upon entering the dining room, a thick sweet aroma surrounded me.

I thought of languid afternoons in Singapore and of myself scoffing down some greasy cake after Sunday mass.

There, lying on the table, were some ripening bananas. So I made banana bread using an easy, tried-and-tested recipe. Staying with the festive mood, I tossed in chunks of dark chocolate (with minor tweaks to the rest of the ingredients).

Ingredients
285g all-purpose flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
90g unsalted butter, softened; plus extra for greasing
150g granulated sugar
100g dark baking chocolate, chopped into chunks
2 medium eggs
3 large ripe bananas, mashed
85ml buttermilk / substitute using 80ml milk with 1½ tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C
2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy in a large bowl.
3. Add the eggs, mashed bananas, chocolate chunks, buttermilk and vanilla extract to the butter and sugar mixture and mix well.
4. Fold in the flour and bicarbonate of soda mixture gradually.
5. Grease a 20cm x 12.5cm/8in x 5in loaf tin and pour the cake mixture into the tin. Transfer to the oven and bake for about an hour, or until well-risen and golden-brown.
6. Remove from the oven and cool in the tin for a few minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before serving.

This is the first time I’ve baked something in the oven in our new place. Am quite pleased with how the banana bread has turned out. I’m sure I’ll be baking more sweet treats in this oven in the future.