Chocolate Coconut Banana Bread

Every Sunday I buy the Sun Herald newspaper. But the stories about the failing health system and football stars gone feral can wait. The first thing I do is open up the lifestyle magazine and check out Karen Martini's recipes.

Her feature always has three recipes based around a particular ingredient or theme. They are always droolworthy. But Easter was a new benchmark when the recipes were, what else, chocolate.

The star of the show was this chocolate coconut banana bread. I simply had to, HAD TO, try it.



And it was delicious. The chocolate and coconut and banana flavours all meld nicely together. The chocolate chips and banana chunks on top of the cake add lovely little rich bursts of flavour. As Karen suggests the best results come from using good quality cocoa and chocolate. And the riper the bananas the better.

The crumb is moist and dense. It's a little crumbly when first out of the oven, but seems to condense down as it cools.



And it's easy. It's a fairly basic cake recipe. I used a bit smaller tin than the recipe specifies so it took a bit longer to cook. But I think it looks quite spectacular.

I've made it twice already and I shall be making it again and again.



Chocolate Coconut Banana Bread
(adapted from Karen Martini's Sun Herald Newspaper Column)

250gm of plain flour
20gm cocoa powder
2tspn baking powder
120gm butter, softened
130gm raw sugar
2 large eggs
2 very large ripe bananas (about 500gm), plus one extra
60gm shredded coconut
80gm dark chocolate chips

Sift flour, cocoa and baking powder together.

Cream butter and sugar and then add the eggs one at a time. Beat well.

Mash up the two ripe bananas and stir in. Fold in the flour mixture. Then add the coconut and chocolate chips. Stir until well combined.

Pour into a greased and lined loaf tin (22x12cm). Slice the extra banana and lay it over the top of the batter. Bake for 60-65 minutes in a 195C conventional oven (or 175C fanforced) or until a skewer comes out clean.