Prep: 20 mins | Cook: 90 mins | Total: 110 mins | Quantity: 8 - 10 slices
Ingredients
1/4 cup (40g) coconut oil
2 tblsp ground flax seeds
1 + 3/4 cups ( 250g) plain flour
1/4 cup (25g) raw cacao powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3 tblsp (40g) Hodmedods Chia Seeds
3 large bananas – the riper the better!
1/2 cup (90g) coconut sugar
1/3 cup (80ml) unsweetened almond milk
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup (100g) dairy free dark chocolate chips
Optional topping
1 large banana
1 tblsp coconut sugar
Loaf tin – 23 x 13cm (9 x 5 inches)
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 160 Fan / 180 C / 350 F / Gas 4. I also brush my tin with a little oil and dust with flour as well as lay a piece of parchment inside as it's an old tin and losing its non-stick! This also helps when lifting the loaf out of the tin!
Melt the coconut oil and set aside to cool while you prepare everything else
Mix the ground flax seeds with 1/3 cup (80ml) cold water to make a 'flax egg' and set those aside too
In a small bowl whisk together the flour, cacao powder, baking powder, bicarb and chia seeds
Peel the bananas and break into chunks into a large bowl. Mash with a fork or potato masher till mostly mushed but some lumps are perfectly ok ?
Add the coconut sugar, almond milk, vinegar, flax egg and melted coconut oil to the banana and whisk together
Add the bowl of dry ingredients and the chocolate chips to the large bowl of wet ingredients and stir everything together with a rubber spatula or large spoon until very well mixed. Scrape up from the bottom so that no lumps of flour remain
Tip into you prepared loaf tin
For the optional topping simply peel a banana and cut in half lengthways then lay on top of the cake mixture. Gently push the banana in to slightly submerge it. Sprinkle with a little coconut sugar.
Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes - 1 hour 30 minutes. Test the cake with a skewer or long toothpick (you need to go quite deep into the cake). If the skewer comes out clean - no raw mixture still clinging to it - the cake is cooked and can be left out of the oven. Otherwise return the cake to the oven and cook until the skewer does come out clean
Allow to cool in the tin for around 15 minutes before lifting out onto a wire rack and cooling completely. Store in an airtight container
Recipe by The Cook & Him at https://thecookandhim.com/recipes/vegan-chocolate-banana-bread/