- Prep Time
- 15 min
- Cook Time
- 1 hr 10 min
- Total Time
- 1 hr 45 min
- Yield
- 1 standard loaf
Ingredients
- 60g European-style unsalted butter, browned and cooled
- 425g mashed bananas
- 200g brown sugar
- 120g sour cream, at room temperature
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 60g canola oil
- 40g milk
- 5g vanilla bean paste or extract
- 250g cake flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- 4g fine sea salt
- 250g dark chocolate, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and line a standard 9x5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper, leaving overhang on the long sides.
- Brown the butter: Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring often, until the milk solids turn golden and it smells nutty — about 5 minutes. Pour into a large bowl and let cool while you prep the remaining ingredients.
- Whisk the dry ingredients: In a medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, baking soda, baking powder, fine sea salt, and cinnamon.
- Build the wet mixture: To the cooled brown butter, add the mashed bananas, brown sugar, sour cream, egg, canola oil, milk, and vanilla. Whisk until smooth and fully combined.
- Combine: Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and fold gently with a spatula until just combined. The batter should stay a little lumpy; do not overmix.
- Fold in the chopped dark chocolate just until evenly distributed.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top.
- Bake on the middle rack at 350°F for 60-70 minutes, until the loaf is deeply golden and the center registers 200°F on an instant-read thermometer. Start checking around 50 minutes and tent loosely with foil if the top is browning too quickly.
- Cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling before slicing.
Notes
- Use very ripe bananas for the strongest banana flavor and the softest crumb.
- Pull the loaf at 200°F internal if you want the center to stay gooey without turning raw.
- Thawed frozen bananas work here too.