Italian Banana Bread with EVOO

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This Italian banana bread is one of those recipes you’ll make once and keep making again and again. It’s the perfect Italian breakfast style recipe; it’s easy, made in just over an hour, and only includes 10 simple ingredients. Did I mention it has chocolate?

Here’s what to expect: a moist banana bread made with just a few high quality ingredients following a simple recipe, just like my Italian grandma would make it. Bite into a sweet but not too sweet soft cake with chunks of gooey banana and chocolate.

Warning: You might end up eating this cake all by yourself, like I did.

Ready to make it and hopefully share it?

Keep reading.

Banana Bread with Extra Virgin Olive Oil

In the South of Italy, we like to bake most of our cakes with extra virgin olive oil rather than butter. That’s for 2 reasons:

extra virgin olive oil is considered healthier than butter
EVOO makes a much more moist and soft cake than butter does

What oil should you use to make this bread without butter?

You should use the highest quality extra virgin olive oil available to you. Don’t think that because you are baking, you can skimp on quality. If you do, your cake will show it in its taste.

Belmorso EVOO is a great every day cooking oil, that you can also use for baking.

However, if you prefer using only organic ingredients, we suggest this Caroli Organic extra virgin olive oil.

We also have a limited availability Artisan Extra Virgin Olive Oil called Novello, that comes every November right after it’s produced in Puglia. It’s only available on pre-order. If interested, sign up to our newsletter here, and we’ll inform you when pre-orders open (PS: no need to sign up again if you are already on our list.)

Other Ingredients to Banana Bread

Along with a high quality extra virgin olive oil and some fresh bananas here are the ingredients you’ll need to make this easy delicious cake.

High quality flour 00

Fresh eggs

Delicious good quality milk chocolate or dark chocolate if your prefer. You can also try a nut chocolate.

Coconut sugar makes this cake healthier, sweet but not too sweet.

Bourbon vanilla is a staple in my Italian baking

The secret ingredient that I think elevates every cake is lievito vanigliato which is a mix of leavening agents with vanilla essence packed in a small sachet. You normally need to use one sachet per cake. This is a product of Italy that is very popular among Italians. Anyone who bakes uses it.

Don’t worry, if you can’t find it; I’ll give you an alternative to use in a minute.

An Easy Recipe for Banana Bread with chocolate

Baking is a delicious, fun and relaxing activity to do on special days, during the weekend or whenever you feel like it. However, we rarely have the whole afternoon or morning to bake a cake. That doesn’t mean we can’t take an hour and turn it into a delicious cake making hour.

This is exactly what this recipe is about, a quick and easy banana bread recipe, ready in just over an hour.

Below you can find the full recipe, with step by step details of how to make it and which ingredients you need.

Follow along on your screen or print it out.

Italian Banana Bread with EVOO

An Italian breakfast style moist banana bread made with just a few high quality ingredients following a simple recipe, just like my Italian grandma would make it.

Course Dessert

Cuisine Italian

Keyword cake, chocolate, gooey, moist

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 50

Total Time 1 10

Servings 8 big slices

Calories 350kcal

Author Alessia

Cost €6

Equipment

2 large bowls
1 electric handheld mixer
1 spatula
1 kitchen scale
1 loaf bakeware
baking paper
1 small plate
1 fork or poking stick

Ingredients

250 gr flour 00
15 gr lievito vanigliato (Replace with 2.5 teaspoons baking powder and 2/3 teaspoon baking soda with a pinch of vanilla bourbon powder). Lievito vanigliato is an Italian staple for baking. Bertolini and Paneangeli are popular brands that make this. If you can't find either, replace with baking powder and baking soda plus some extra vanilla essence.
1/2 tsp Bourbon vanilla powder
3 bananas
100 gr milk chocolate bar
85 ml Belmorso extra virgin olive oil
2 eggs
50 gr coconut sugar or brown sugar
1 pinch salt

Instructions

Crack the eggs into a bowl, add the sugar and the vanilla.
In a separate bowl mix the flour, the salt, the lievito vanigliato or the baking powder + soda + pinch of vanilla.
Mash 2 bananas with a fork into a plate.
Plug in your handheld electric mixer and start beating the eggs, sugar and vanilla.
Next, add the extra virgin olive oil and continue beating.
Then add the mashed fruit and continue beating.
Mix the dry ingredients together using a spoon, add half to the wet ingredients, and continue beating.
Repeat with the other half of the dry ingredients and beat again.
You can now pour the batter in the cake dish lined with baking paper.
Chop the third banana, and scatter the pieces on top of the cake.
Use a fork or a poking stainless steel baking tool to lower the pieces so they go inside the cake.
Then chop your chocolate bar into one button and two button pieces. You can chop them larger if you prefer. Scatter those throughout the cake batter and use your poking tool or fork to submerge the chocolate pieces into the cake.
Bake in a preheated oven at 160 degrees Celsius for 50 minutes or until your poking stick comes out clean. It's better to check the cake after 40 minutes. (PS: I like to preheat my oven for 15 minutes at a slightly higher temperature and then lower it when I put the cake in).
When ready take out of the oven, leave to cool, cut a slice and enjoy.

Video

Notes

I suggest enjoying it warm. You can reheat a slice in the microwave for 25 seconds at a high setting so you can enjoy the melted chocolate and warm bread cake each time you take a slice.

How to serve banana bread?

Like any delicious cake, the best way is to enjoy the first or second slice when the cake is warm, just after few minutes you take it out of the oven.

My favourite way to enjoy it for breakfast is to have a slice with a healthy smoothie.

You could also serve this for dessert with a dollop of Greek yogurt or vanilla ice cream.

And if you are feeling like some crunch, you can add some chopped walnuts after you heat your slice up in the microwave.

Banana Bread Variations from blueberry to rum

This recipe can be the base for many other ingredients combinations you may want to try. Here are a few suggestions:

This recipe is for a banana bread with 3 bananas but you can easily make into a 2 banana bread recipe by skipping the chopped one at the end.
Blueberry banana bread – simply add a handful fresh blueberries in the batter before pouring it in the dish
Chocolate chips instead of big chocolate chunks – if you’d like your chocolate to be more evenly distributed and not come into big chunks
Walnut recipe – simply add a fee chopped walnuts in the batter at the end and use a spatula to fold them in
Yogurt banana bread – if you like your cake super fluffy, you can also try adding a yogurt but you’ll need to adjust the dry ingredients.
A little rum can also add an interesting flavour.
You can also try with a mix of chopped nuts and dry fruit like sultanas, almonds and pinenuts.

Which flour for banana bread? + Other common questions

You have probably come across many recipes for this delicious treat, and you might be confused. Well, in the next section I will try my best to answer all the common questions that come up when baking this type of cake.

  How much does banana bread rise?
  If you are using the right recipe, and the right ingredients, your banana bread should rise a lot. You can see how high our final result is.
 
 
 How much banana in banana bread?
  For a banana bread that has enough banana taste we suggest using 3 bananas. If you are a true banana lover, you can go up to 5 bananas, but you'll have to add more flour.
 
 
 When is national banana bread day?
  There is no world banana bread day, and neither there is an international banana day. However, US celebrate both a banana day and a banana bread day. The first is on the 19th April and the second happens on the 23rd February.
 
 
 Which flour for banana bread?
  We suggest using flour 00 for most Italian cakes, including banana bread, plumcake, lemon cake but also coconut cake, chocolate cake, yogurt cake and orange cake.
 
 
 Does banana bread need to be refrigerated?
  No it doesn't. We suggest storing it on a cake stand and covering it with a few sheets of kitchen roll and a clean cloth. That way, it will last fresh for up to 3 days.
 
 
 Can you make banana bread without eggs?
  While our recipe calls for eggs, we are pretty sure you can try making your cake without eggs by adding 2 flax seeds eggs. You can make a flax seed egg by adding 2 tablespoons flax seeds and 6 tablespoons water. Mix and leave to set for a few minutes. The flax seeds will bind to the water and when added to the batter will help your batter bind. That along the banana can make a pretty good banana bread without eggs.
 
 
 How to make banana bread soft?
  Replace butter with extra virgin olive oil to make your banana bread extra soft and moist.
 
 
 How do you eat banana bread?
  Enjoy a slice either warm or at room temperature with a cup of tea, a coffee, or a smoothie for breakfast. You can also have it as a treat with some Greek yogurt or vanilla ice cream. Top with some chopped walnuts for some crunch.
 
 
 How many calories in banana bread?
  A large slice of our banana bread recipe has 350 calories. We have seen recipes that have under 100 calories per slice, and we are pretty sure certain recipes can have way more calories than ours. Adding a nut butter, or more sugar to your banana bread recipe can increase the calories by a lot, and so does adding frosting.

Other Italian breakfast cakes to try

If cake is your ideal weekend breakfast of choice, I get it. I really really love homemade cakes for breakfast, after lunch or as a mid-afternoon treat.

Next time, you are craving something sweet and homemade but still relatively healthy, try one of these recipes.

Plumcake with EVOO

Healthy Oat Muffins

Lemon Cake with EVOO and Mascarpone Frosting