We've all heard of classic banana bread. We've all heard of chocolate banana bread. But have we ever tried marbled banana bread?! This recipe is perfect because we get the best of both worlds! Not to mention it's also just gorgeous looking and SO easy to make. If you have some bananas that are about to go, now is the time to use them!
Quick story... I had a really busy day at work and no time to go to the grocery store, so I decided to use Instacart to get a couple of necessities. I asked for one bunch of bananas and ended up getting THREE. If that wasn't a sign to make banana bread, I don't know what is.
What's great about this recipe is that we only need ten ingredients, and the majority of them are probably already in your pantry. We need: bananas, flour, baking soda, salt, brown sugar, unsalted butter, eggs, vanilla extract, yogurt and cocoa powder.
How do I make this banana bread?
Start by creaming your room temperature butter and brown sugar together for 2-3 minutes. Do not rush this step! The sugar aerates the butter which allows for bubbles in the batter. These bubbles fill up with gas when our leavening agent is active, this will make our banana bread rise splendidly! Next, we will add our eggs, one at a time, beating well in between each addition. Add the vanilla, mashed banana and yogurt and beat until combined. Then, mix in your dry ingredients at low speed until a batter forms.
Once we have our batter, we will take about 2 cups of it and place it in a separate bowl. This is what we will mix the cocoa powder with to get those nice chocolate marble-y (is this a word?) layers. Once we have our regular batter and our chocolate batter, pour ¾ of the regular batter into the bottom your pan, followed by ¾ of the chocolate batter, then place the remaining ¼ of each on the top and swirl together with a knife.
Now, this banana bread needs to bake for 60-70 minutes (which arguably is the most annoying part, because if you're like me, you're literally staring through the oven door waiting for this bad boy to finish). I recommend that in between 20-30 minutes of baking, you place a piece of foil on top of your pan so the top of the bread doesn't get too brown.
If you can wait the full 60-70 minutes, a tooth pick should come out clean and the edges of the banana bread should begin to peel away from the pan. That is how you know it is finished! Right now is when I want to say to wait for it to cool, but who am I kidding!!!! Smear butter on that warm banana bread and enjoy the heck out of it.
Marbled Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour spooned and leveled
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature
- ¾ cup brown sugar packed
- 2 eggs room temperature
- ⅓ cup yogurt room temperature
- 2 cups mashed banana about 3-4 regular sized bananas
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x5 inch pan, or line with parchment paper. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside. In a large bowl, beat together the butter and brown sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy for about 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well in between each addition. Add the yogurt, vanilla extract and mashed bananas and beat at medium speed until combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until a batter forms. Once your batter is mixed, take two cups and move it to a separate bowl. Add the cocoa powder to that two cups and mix until combined. This is your chocolate batter. Take your regular batter and pour ¾ of it into the bottom of your pan. On top of this, put ¾ of your chocolate batter. Place the remaining ¼ of each batter on the top and swirl with a knife. Let the banana bread bake for 20-30 minutes and then place a piece of foil on it so the top doesn't get too brown/burn. Place back in the oven and let bake for another 30ish minutes. Total bake time is around 60-70 minutes depending on your oven. The banana bread is done when a toothpick inserted comes out clean and when the edges of the banana bread begin to peel away from the sides of the pan. Let cool and enjoy!
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