Chocolate Chip Banana Loaf

• Preheat the oven 160C (fan).

• Grease and line a standard loaf tin

• Whisk all the ingredients together (except for the banana and chocolate) until smooth.

• In a separate bowl break the banana up with a fork. I like a bit of texture so I left the banana quite lumpy.

• Gently fold the banana into the mixture.

• Stir in the chocolate chips and spoon the mixture into the prepared loaf tin.

• Bake for 45-50 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

• Leave in the tin for 10minutes then remove and place on a wire rack to cool.

• Mix the icing sugar and water together until you have a smooth yet thick runny icing.

• Pour over the cooled loaf and spread with a palette knife if needed.

• Sprinkle over the chocolate chips and enjoy!

Do you ever feel like making a cake that isn't pumped full of fat, sugar and calories? Have you ever tried low fat versions but have been really disappointed by them cos lets be honest, replacing sugar with sweetener just doesn't hit the spot in the same way.

Well there has been a bit of a baby boom in the office this past year and the guy I sit next to has two little 'uns. (Bear with me this will all make sense in a minute!) He was telling me about the process of baby led weaning and how he had discovered a banana bread recipe that contained no sugar and didnt need it cos bananas are naturally sweet. Of course I didn't believe him but I decided to try the recipe and tweaked it a wee bit to suit my tastes. Now I have no idea of the calorie content but I bet its a lot better for you than most cakey teats and when I have one of these I don't feel as guilty.

The recipe was initally for banana bread but I doubled it and made 12 muffins instead. They also freeze really well so its a handy breakfast to pop out of the freezer the night before or in my case I defrost in the microwave that morning. Warm banana bread - yummm.....

The recipe I was given is in imperial but I'm lazy and instead of converting I just pressed the button on my digital scales to change it for me. Much less hassle!

Banana Muffins - makes 12

8 oz self raising flour
1 tsp mixed spice
4 oz butter/stork
5 oz raisins
16 oz banana (about 3 small or 2 large very ripe bananas)
2 eggs, beaten
1tbsp milk
Soft brown sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 180C/106C fan (no idea on the gas - never had a gas oven!)

Line a muffin tin with 12 muffin cases.

Mix flour and spice together then rub in butter and stir in the raisins.

In a separate bowl mash the banana with a fork. I like to leave it a bit chunky for some texture.
Stir into the flour mixture with the banana and pour over the beaten eggs and milk - tip, use a wooden spoon instead of a balloon whisk or you will spend ages trying to get the mixture out of the whisk.


Divide the mixture between the cases. I find an ice-cream scoop works best and it means you get an even amount of mixture in each case.

If like me you want that wee bit of sugar I sprinkle a small dusting of soft brown sugar over each muffin before it goes in the oven but it tastes just as good without.


Bake for around 25mins or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

Pop on a wire rack to cool although they are pretty tasty straight out of the oven.

Enjoy!



ps. here is the orginial recipe if you are interested.