Tuesday, August 5, 2008

TWD: The Black and White Banana Loaf


This week's Tuesdays with Dorie (TWD) recipe was chosen by Ashlee of A Year in the Kitchen: The Black and White Banana Loaf. I love banana bread, but I must admit that I was a bit hesitant about this recipe. You see, Dorie's Perfection Pound Cake was the first recipe I made with TWD. It's probably been the only recipe I have made to date that I did not love. It was a bit dry, and I never really figured out if it was an error on my part, or a problem with the recipe - but others who have tried it found it a bit dry too. So I was worried that this Black and White Banana Loaf would turn out dry as well...


Whenever I have some bananas that are too ripe to eat, I peel them, pop them in a ziploc bag, and toss it in the freezer. That way, I always have some bananas on hand whenever I'm in the mood for some banana bread :) If I'm not in the mood for banana bread, I love to make this Upside Down Bananas Foster Cake with the bananas instead. So when Ashlee chose this recipe, I already had all the ingredients on hand, including some bananas in my freezer.


Dorie's Black and White Banana Loaf is basically your traditional banana bread, with a twist. There's a tablespoon of rum in it (yum!) and then at the end, before you pour all the batter in the pan, you take half of it and add some chocolate to it - to create a beautiful, chocolately swirl in the loaf (I guess Dorie was wise enough to see that Brown and White Banana Loaf just wouldn't sound as good). The only changes I made to this recipe were to use skim milk instead of whole, and semisweet chocolate instead of bittersweet.


The first time I ever attempted a swirled batter was with the Perfection Pound Cake, but I didn't swirl the batter very much because Dorie warns about over mixing it into one homogenous blob. I ended up with a not so swirly loaf in that case. So this time, I was determined to swirl the batter more, but not too much, and attain a perfectly swirled loaf. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful this time as well. I over mixed the batter and ended up with a marbled, almost completely brown loaf. I will have to try and find a happy medium next time!


My bread was finished baking at the lower end of the recommended baking time. Dorie recommends testing it with a knife to figure out when it is done baking, but I don't like leave a huge slit on the top of my loaf so my trick is to use an uncooked piece of angel hair pasta to test it. Works just like a long toothpick :)


So what about the taste? Was it dry like the Perfection Pound Cake? My fears of a dry loaf were completely unfounded - it was amazingly moist. The chocolate and rum flavors were a nice change from your traditional banana bread. The rum was very subtle, as most of it was baked out of the loaf, so next time I may consider adding two tablespoons instead of one.



Thanks again to Ashlee for choosing the Black and White Banana Loaf. I was getting tired of the same old banana bread and this will definitely be my go-to recipe from now on. I may not always make it with the chocolate, but I will definitely always include the rum :) If you would like the recipe, you can find it here (with recipe tips here). Make sure you visit the TWD Blog Roll to see how everyone else enjoyed Dorie's twist on banana bread.

36 comments:

  1. Looks great! Love the angel hair pasta trick...will have to try that out!

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  2. no more dry loaf cakes for us anymore! Fabulous job on yours!

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  3. It looks terrific! And moist! Nice job.

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  4. Great tips, I'll have to remember the freezing bananas and the pasta tricks.

    Your loaf looks great, so moist!

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  5. Wow - the crumb of your loaf looks perfect! Great job! :)

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  6. Hooray for moist banana bread!! Love the fun variation on the loaf as well.

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  7. I think your marbling looks pretty good! did you like the chocolate in it? I almost feel like it ruined it for me.

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  8. Next time adding 2tbsp instead of 1? I knew you were a boozer! HAHA. I think your marbling is beautiful. Great job!
    Clara @ iheartfood4thought

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  9. Looks beautiful Jamie! I love banana bread, this one looks like a winner!

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  10. Your break looks scrumptious! I liked the tip about the angel hair pasta as a cake tester.

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  11. Your bread looks delicious! I was disappointed in the dry pound cake as well, but found that this definitely made up for it! It's nice to know that someone else uses pasta as a tester- my mom taught me that when I was little and I've been using that trick ever since!

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  12. I don't think you did bad with the swirl! It looks great to em, and really very moist. I some times test my cakes with spaghetti too :)

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  13. Ooh, I'll have to try your pasta trick. Cool!

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  14. Looks so moist and tasty! Great job!

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  15. I actually think you have some pretty snazzy marbling. Not big, but very nice, fine marbling. Very pretty.

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  16. i just noticed that you have 89 "sweet treats" recipes that you've made! keep it up!

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  17. Gorgeous closeup photos of your cake...great job!!!

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  18. oh woww...yum!!
    your loaf turned out gorgeous!
    and your marbling is perfect!
    great job!

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  19. I knew it had to be nice and moist just from your pics. It looks wonderful.

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  20. Gorgeous pictures, and I'm going to have to remember the freezing tip for my ripe bananas.

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  21. Less is more when it comes to marbling...I have to hold back as I always want to go another few times through the cake. It looks like good marbling to me.

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  22. i think your marbling is just dandy. and what a great tip about the angel hair pasta! if, per chance, it breaks off, someone will get a nice crunchy surprise. :)

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  23. Your loaf looks great! Mine also came out a little more brown than I would have liked but it was still yummy! Glad you liked it.

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  24. Wow, I've never thought about using angel hair pasta to test! Thanks for that tip. It looks perfect!

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  25. Your bread looks great! I had problems getting that perfect swirl too. Thanks for the tip on the angel hair pasta!

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  26. I had the same "swirling" technique as you :) But it looks beautiful!

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  27. That looks great! Nice marbling. Banana loafs are one of my favorite. I will have to try marbling one soon.

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  28. Nice work, glad your loaf turned out. Mine was okay, but it didn't knock my socks off.

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  29. Great job, it looks wonderful! I'll have the try the angel hair trick. I was thinking of trying it without the chocolate, too.

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  30. Terrific job! I like the angel hair pasta trick, too!

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  31. I think your loaf looks fantastic! Chocolate & rum, those sound like great additions to the banana bread. Well done!

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  32. sounds so yummy - can't wait to try it! love the photos and thanks for the pasta trick :-)

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  33. i love banana bread, this looks so good, i know i will have to try this!

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  34. i have an award for you on my blog!

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  35. This was terrific! Thank you.

    http://theretohereandwhat.blogspot.com/2008/10/stunning-particularly-after-9-mile-run.html

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