Banana and Chocolate Loaf

I've pretty much spent this entire week in the kitchen. First of all we had a sudden crop of pears from the tree in the garden. It's the tallest pear tree I have ever seen, God only knows how many years it's been there but its been pear, after pear, after pear for the past couple of weeks and there really is only so many you can eat. But before I could decided what exactly to do with them, we had an abundance of overripe bananas to deal with first.

And there's only one thing meant for a bunch of overripe bananas in my house.

Banana and Chocolate loaf.

Ohhhhh yes catch a whiff of those bad boys and you'll be on the next flight to foodie heaven.

Banana Loafs are one of my favourite tea time treats. Especially in Autumn when they're served warm straight from the oven. 

To make enough for one 900g loaf tin you'll need:

250g plain flour
175g dark chocolate pieces (70% cocoa solids)250g caster sugar1 tsp vanilla extract2 eggs125g butter4 ripe bananas2 tsp baking powder

First get your oven heating up, set it to 180°C and grease a 900g loaf tin and line with baking paper. I decided to do two smaller loaves so I lined two 500g tins.

Start by creaming the butter and sugar until nice and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time and mix well after each one. Then add the vanilla extract and mix again.

Sift together the flour and baking powder then gradually add to the batter and beat well.

Mash your bananas and beat them into the mix too. 

Finally, stir in the chocolate pieces.

Once you're done, pour the mixture into the loaf tin and bake in the center of the oven for about 50 minues. 

I made two slightly smaller loaves and they took about 40-45 minutes, just keep your eye on them and take them out when they're golden brown and until a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. 

Leave them in their tins to cool.

Or if you're as impatient as me, carefully take them out....

It's usually best to remove the baking cases before tucking in...

Et voila! Banana and Chocolate loaf at it's finest.
Sit down, grap a cuppa and get to munchin'.

Or if you're anything like my family, you'll have started to cut it before you've had a chance to sit down.

You can't leave them for 5 minutes. Absolute animals!