Dark Chocolate Banana Bread with Cherries
A fresh take on classic banana bread, this dark chocolate cherry banana bread is simultaneously decadent but light. Fresh cherries ensure the bread is extra moist!
Ingredients
- 3 large mashed bananas
- 2 large eggs
- ⅓ cup greek yogurt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted
- 2 tsp espresso, or strong black coffee
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
- 1 cup cherries, halved & pitted
- Powdered sugar to garnish optional
Instructions
-
Preheat your oven to 350. Either grease or line with parchment paper a 9x5 loaf pan.
-
In a large mixing bowl, combine bananas, eggs, greek yogurt, vanilla, espresso, and melted butter.
-
Once the wet ingredients are mixed, it's time to add your dry ingredients. Place a strainer over your mixing bowl of wet ingredients and measure the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder directly into the strainer.
-
Sift the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients then add the kosher salt.
-
Mix everything together with a wooden spoon just until a batter starts to form. Once batter comes together, fold in the cherries reserving a few to top
-
Spoon the batter into your prepared loaf pan and top with the remaining cherries. Bake in the oven at 350 for 55-65 minutes.
-
After baking for about an hour, test the chocolate banana bread for doneness. The cherries can mess up your normal toothpick test, so I recommend testing at least 3 spots in the bread.
-
Once baked through, remove from oven and let it rest on a wire rack until the pan is cool enough handle. Once it's cool enough to handle, remove the loaf from the pan and continue to let cool on a wire rack.
-
Once cooled, slice the bread and finish with a dusting of powdered sugar (totally optional).