Banana bread does not exist in Italy.

I was so confused when I heard of it the first time. What is it? Is it bread or is it a cake? Is it sweet? Sweet bread?? And you have it with cream cheese?? Or jam.. Well, ok, jam is fine. That I understand.

The first time I made it for Milo. I thought it’d be nice. After all crossfitters are all about bananas.
I had never tried it before so I didn’t even know what I was doing essentially. Follow the recipe, don’t make a mess, maybe some chia seeds would be good in there, don’t burn don’t burn oh please don’t burn…

I gave it another try. The recipe is from Bon Appetit. They shared their best and I made my version of it topped with good seeds. I am really excited about the result.

I am often reading about the Tudors and Elizabeth I lately. When the bread came out of the oven it seemed to me it was wearing a jewelled coat. It really looked majestic. Or am I being too obsessed?

Ingredients

1½ C wholemeal flour
1¼ ts baking soda
¾ ts fine sea salt
1 C dark brown Muscovado sugar
1/3 C mascarpone
1/4 C coconut oil
2 large eggs
3 large ripe bananas
a sprinkle of omega seeds (pumpkin, sunflower, brown and golden linseed, sesame)

Know-how

Line a standard (8″x4″) loaf pan with parchment paper.
Whisk flour, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl.
In a large bowl, cream the coconut oil with an electric mixer, then add the sugar and the mascarpone. Beat for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, blending well.
Fold in the flour mixture and combine with a wooden spoon. Finally, add the mashed bananas but don’t over-mix.
Pour the mixture in the loaf pan and sprinkle with seeds.
Bake in the oven at 175°C for 60′.

The loaf is rich and moist but definitely not too sweet – which I love. This is why I always prefer to use dark brown sugar, especially when baking with fruit. It enhances the flavour and brings out the natural sweetness without overpowering your cake.