Mini Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread Loaves
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy for details.
Have your bananas gone brown? Don’t worry, you can put them for making these moist and delicious Mini Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread Loaves. They come with two flavors, the plain and chocolate ones, combined into one and are swirled to create those gorgeous marbled effects.
An easy homemade banana bread recipe is not only the best way to use up overripe bananas, but it also makes a nice go-to breakfast with your morning coffee. You do not even need a mixer to make banana bread. The result is an incredibly fluffy and moist banana bread that is packed with a delicious depth of banana flavor. This really is one of the easiest baking recipes you will use over time.
What to Do If You Do Not Have Mini Loaf Pans?
I made this recipe with 9 mini loaf pans, but you can also put together the dough into one big 9×5-inch loaf pan. I prefer to make banana bread with mini loaf pans because I can cut the baking time to half. You need to bake this recipe for 1 hour if you use a 9×5-inch loaf pan. So, if I use these mini loaf pans, I only need to bake them for 30 minutes.
Moreover, what I love about mini banana bread loaves is that they are already portioned for one serving. No cutting is needed and you can munch them whenever you want. If you are making these in mini sizes, but do not have those loaf pans, you can consider turning these mini loaves into muffins. Each mini loaf is about the size of two muffins. Therefore, just prepare the muffin tins as much as the double serving of the mini loaves.
Tips for Making Mini Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread Loaves
Banana bread is one of the easiest baking recipes you will need all the time. They are called bread, but they do not actually contain yeast, just like regular bread recipes, but use leavening agents like baking soda or baking powder, so it is ready to bake right away. Therefore, you do not need to knead it or wait for hours while yeast makes the batter rises. You simply mix a few simple ingredients together, pour the batter into the pans, and bake. Still, there are essential tips and techniques that help your banana bread turn out more extra.
1. Use overly ripe bananas
What makes banana bread so flavorful? If you want to make out the tasty banana’s flavor in your banana bread, overripe bananas that have yellow skins with an even smattering of brown freckles are perfect for banana bread because they are sweeter and more aromatic. These bananas are soft and full of naturally occurring sugars. You can still use fully ripe bananas, but the banana bread you make will not taste as good as the ones made with overripe bananas.
2. Speed the ripening process of bananas
Perfectly overripe bananas are essential for tasty banana bread, but sometimes we cannot wait for the bananas to ripen on their own. There are some tricks to ripen them quickly. Firstly, f you need to make banana bread the next day, just place bananas in a brown paper bag and close loosely. Ethylene, the gas that promotes further ripening, will build up and speed up the ripening process.
Secondly, you can also simply bake unpeeled bananas on a baking sheet in 300F / 150°C for 15-30 minutes when you need them on the same day. The time may vary, but as soon as the banana peels are shiny and black, take them out from the oven. This method is great to bring out the fruit’s sugar and your bananas cannot be overly green when using this method.
There is also the third method by poking banana peels on all sides with a fork, then place in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time until bananas soften. However, heating bananas in such a short period of time will not develop and sweeten the natural sugars in bananas. Therefore, I do not recommend using this microwave method for ripening bananas for baking.
3. Use all brown sugar for extra moist banana bread
I use half granulated sugar and half brown sugar for the recipe. I love the richness of brown sugar gives deep caramel notes in banana bread. In addition, molasses in brown sugar is the culprit behind the soft and moist texture of banana bread. For extra moist banana bread, substitute the granulated sugar in the recipe with brown sugar.
4. Make the non-chocolate banana bread instead
Banana bread with chocolate swirls do not tempt you? Or do you prefer the plain one? I have the perfect recipe for you. These Mini Walnut Banan Bread Loaves are the exact recipe with this post but without the addition of melted chocolate and dark cocoa.
5. Do not over-swirl the batter
These Mini Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread Loaves have such a stunningly beautiful appearance. The problem is the swirl part can very easily become a cloudy, undefined mess if you over-swirl the batter.
Place blobs of your banana bread batter mixture randomly over your loaf pans. Be sure to place blobs in the corners as corners can often look skimpy. Using a butter knife, swirl the mixture. Drag the butter knife in small circular movements and do not forget to run a swirl through the blank banana bread spaces.
6. How to store banana bread
Banana bread can easily go bad in only a couple of days. To keep it moist, banana bread should always be kept in plastic wrap or an airtight container to keep it from drying out. Remember to cool the bread completely before storing to prevent mold from developing faster. You can refrigerate it up to a week, and frozen up to three months.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (113 gr) unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup (100 gr) brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100 gr) granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 ripe bananas, peeled, mashed
- 2 cups (240 gr) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 oz (85 gr) bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped, melted
- 2 tsp cocoa powder
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F/180°C, and lightly grease mini loaf pans.
- In a medium bowl, combine all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon powder, and salt together. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar using a mixer or a hand whisk until well incorporated. Add eggs, vanilla extract, and mashed bananas. Whisk together until well combined.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until incorporated with a spatula. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, mix the melted chocolate and cocoa powder until well combined. Add 1/3 of the batter into the chocolate mixture and mix until well combined.
- Drop dollops of plain batter and chocolate batter randomly into the pans with an ice cream scoop. Using a butter knife, swirl the batter to create the marble effect. Do not over swirl.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean. Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Turn the little loaves out onto the wire rack to finish cooling.
