Marbled Chocolate Teabread

Using up over ripe bananas in cakes is something I do on a regular basis as I hate to see them go to waste so it's great to have plenty of recipes up my sleeve. This recipe is from "The Bread Machine Bible by Anne Sheasby" and I have adapted it to bake in the oven. This cake is so easy to make and expertly combines sweet banana with the depth of chocolate and the warmth of ginger. The marble effect looks lovely when sliced up, the perfect accompaniment to a cuppa! I made this one for my good friend Alexandra, who is working hard on the front line during this pandemic, she is someone who loves cake but at the moment has no time to bake it. Hopefully this will go down a treat for both her and her father. 

Ingredients

175g Butter (I use Stork)

175g Light Brown Soft Sugar

3 Eggs

225g Plain Flour

2.5 tsp Baking Powder

2 Bananas (peeled and mashed with some lemon juice)

25g Cocoa Powder

2 tsp Milk

1/2 tsp Ground Ginger

How To Make

1. Preheat your oven to 170'c and line a 2lb loaf tin with baking paper. Cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Then gradually beat in the eggs, adding a little flour to prevent curdling.

2. Sift in the flour and baking powder and fold in, mixing well. Then stir through the bananas. Place half the mixture in a separate bowl, sift over the cocoa powder and add the milk. Fold together until combined. Stir the ginger into the plain banana mixture.

3. Place alternate spoonfuls of each mixture into the loaf tin. Then, using a skewer, gently swirl it through the mixtures to create a marbled effect. bake in the oven for 45-60 minutes, until risen and a skewer comes out clean. 

4. Leave to cool in the tin and then turn out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.