Dark chocolate and roasted ripe bananas join forces to make this Dark Chocolate Roasted Banana Bread! This bread is moist, boldly flavored, and is guaranteed to become a favorite!
Be honest with me…How many ripe bananas are sitting on your counter right now? Too many, right?
Our family loves bananas soooo much, that they get eaten pretty much right when I get home. But at times, I overbuy, and that happened last week. I ended up with about 12 ripe bananas that needed used ASAP.
Today, let’s combine those ripe bananas with chocolate.
What Dark Chocolate Roasted Banana Bread is Like
Ripened bananas are roasted with brown sugar and warm fall spices until caramelized. These caramelized bananas are then combined with a spiced dark chocolate batter, baked, and topped with a rich ganache.
Why you’ll love this banana bread:
- dark chocolate
- roasted bananas with a hint of caramel
- warm spices
- fudgy texture
- smooth ganache
- and chocolate. Lots and lots of chocolate.
How to Roast Bananas
First, roast these ripe bananas with brown sugar and some warm fall spices. The bananas are roasted for about 25 minutes until they soften and the sugars (both sprinkled and in the fruit) caramelize. It will smell amazing.
This is all scraped into a bowl and mashed.
Make Chocolate Banana Bread
Then we make the chocolate bread. No mixer required (unless you want to, of course). Just a bowl, a whisk, and some heavy arm action. Work those arms!
This is a typical quick banana bread recipe. Mix the wet ingredients in one bowl, the dry ingredients in another. Then combine and gently mix. Here are a few tips to help you make this.
- Melted butter and coconut oil are used here. Feel free to use all butter if you’re out of coconut oil.
- Add a little vanilla extract. If you happen to have some banana liqueur, add a tablespoon of that. It will heighten the banana flavor.
- We used a dark cocoa powder to get the beautiful deep color. You can use half black cocoa powder and half regular cocoa powder if you’d like. See our cocoa powder guide here.
- If you don’t like one of the spices (nutmeg, cloves or ginger), you can add just a dash or even leave one out. But the warm spices really pair well with the bananas and chocolate.
- The wet ingredients are mixed until combined. The dry ingredients are folded in, and finally chocolate chips are gently added to this batter. It’s important not to overmix the batter.
- Bake this in a loaf pan for about 45-50 minutes. This is a fudgy loaf so a toothpick might not come out totally clean, but the bread should be set in the middle.
- Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then cool on a wire rack the rest of the way.
Chocolate Ganache Topping for Bread
I’d like to say the ganache is optional. However, if you are anything like me, there is no such thing as TOO MUCH CHOCOLATE. Chocolate is one of those, ‘if ya got it, flaunt it’ sort of things.
And this bread definitely flaunts it.
To make the ganache, slowly melt the chocolate chips (we prefer dark chocolate chips) and heavy cream in a microwave safe bowl. Do this slowly in no more than 30 second intervals. Once the chocolate starts to melt, go down to 10-15 second intervals. Stir the chocolate each time. It won’t take long at all to melt!
Once the cake cools, drizzle or spoon the ganache on the surface of the chocolate banana bread.
How to Store Banana Bread
This cake is safe to store at room temperature for up to 3 days. Store it in the fridge for up to 5 days. If you are going to have it any longer, freeze it in an airtight container. This bread freezes really well!
Other Banana Bread Recipes
Dark Roasted Banana Bread
Ingredients
For the roasted bananas:
- 4 ripe bananas
- 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
For the chocolate bread:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (lightly spooned, then measured)
- 1/2 cup Dutch processed cocoa powder (lightly spoon, then measured)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/8 teaspoons freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/4 cup coconut oil (melted)
- 5 tablespoons unsalted butter (melted)
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar packed
- Roasted bananas
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspooons vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips (milk or semi-sweet)
For the chocolate ganache:
- 1 cup dark chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
Instructions
Roast the bananas:
- Preheat your oven to 375° Fahrenheit. Slice banana lengthwise (long side) in half and line them in lightly greased baking pan.
- Sprinkle the light brown sugar, ground cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and freshly grated nutmeg over the bananas.
- Roast bananas for 25 minutes, until the bananas are soft, the juices have released and the sugar has somewhat caramelized.
- Remove from the oven and transfer the bananas, along with the caramelized syrup that's accumulated in the pan in a small bowl. Mash the bananas with a fork and set aside to cool.
Make the bread:
- Lower the oven temperature to 350° Fahrenheit. Spray a loaf pan with non-stick spray and line the bottom with a rectangle of parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, salt, and spices. Set aside.
- To a large bowl, add the melted coconut oil, melted butter, light brown sugar and roasted bananas. Whisk with a hand whisk until combined.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract, then whisk until completely incorporated.
- Fold in the flour/cocoa powder mixture into the wet ingredients until just combined. It's OK to see some dry flour bits. Fold in the chocolate chips, ensuring all dry bits are incorporated into the flour. Be sure not to overmix.
- Pour mixture into the prepared loaf pan. Place pan in the oven and bake for 50 minutes until a tester inserted in the middle of the pan comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes. Invert the bread to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the ganache:
- Place the chocolate in a small bowl. Pour the heavy cream over the chocolate. Microwave for 30 seconds, then stir. Melt in 10 or 15 second increments, stirring between each interval until the chocolate is smooth and shiny. Pour over the cooled cake.
- Cake can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.
I’m drooling over this bread! I love how chocolate-y it looks!