Triple-layer choc-bottom banana bread

Melted butter makes this banana bread particularly rich; baking it on top of a chocolate crumb crust and finishing it off with a generous scatter of dark chocolate chips takes it into another stratosphere entirely. You won’t believe how amazing this tastes...

Credit: Alan Benson

• makes

  16

• prep

  30 minutes

• cook

  50 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 170 g plain flour
• ¾ tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 95 g sour cream
• 200 g mashed, overripe banana
• 155 g (⅔ cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
• 95 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 200 g (1⅓ cups) dark chocolate baking chips

Chocolate base

• 250 g plain chocolate biscuits, broken (see Note)
• 1 tbsp cocoa
• 60 g (⅓ cup, lightly packed) brown sugar
• 125 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180°C. 

For the chocolate base, place the broken biscuits in a food processor with the cocoa and brown sugar and process until fine crumbs form. 

Add the butter then process until the butter is well combined and the crumb mixture looks uniformly wet. Transfer to a non-stick 20 cm square cake tin with a removable base then, using your hands, firmly press the crumb mixture evenly over the base of the tin.

Place the tin on a baking tray, in case any butter escapes during baking, then bake for 10 minutes or until firm in the middle. Remove from the oven. Reduce oven temperature to 170°C.

Sift together the flour and baking powder into a large bowl and set aside. Combine the egg and yolk in another bowl and whisk together well. Add the sour cream, banana, brown sugar and melted butter and whisk well until combined well.  Add to the flour mixture then whisk until the mixture is smooth and combined well. Pour over the chocolate base in the pan, smoothing the surface even, then scatter the chocolate bits over the top.

Bake for about 40 minutes or until a cake tester withdraws clean.

Cool in the tin for 30 minutes then carefully remove cake and transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely, leaving it on the removable base. To serve, cut into 16 even-sized pieces.

This banana bread will keep, stored in an airtight container in a cool, dark place, for up to 5 days. It will also freeze for up to 12 weeks.

Note

• Arnotts Original Chocolate Ripple biscuits were used for this recipe but you could use any plain purchased chocolate biscuit here.

Photography by Alan Benson, styling by Sarah O'Brien and food preparation by Tina Mcleish.

When she doesn’t have her head in the pantry cupboard, Leanne Kitchen finds time to photograph food and write cookbooks. You can view her work on her website or on Instagram.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.