Good Afternoon Friends!

Waking up (on minimal sleep) feeling very positive and joyful today. While this doesn’t happen often, I am fully embracing it! So my gluten-free journey has officially kicked off! I say that because this is the first baked dessert I have made that is gluten-free and tastes amazing! I’ve mentioned before that my husband is not a gluten-free person, but he loves this baked chocolate banana loaf! He enjoyed it, without knowing it was gluten free. For me, that’s a huge tell to know if something is genuinely good!

I have been on this GF and DF diet for a few weeks now. And I’m finding a few things difficult, like breads and rolls but otherwise I’m not struggling, per se. I think my next baked attempt would be a bread of some kind to really enjoy every day. What do you think?

Back to this loaf however, it was light and chocolatey in all the best places. I found it to be light and not fudgy at all, it has a gorgeous texture. As much as I added in more than enough bananas, the banana flavour isn’t too heavy either. This is a great loaf when people are coming over or to have around the house.

*Here are few tips I found while baking this chocolate loaf that I think will really help you.

Bon Appetit,

Zorah xo

How to bake the best gluten-free baked chocolate banana loaf:

Use a gluten-free flour that has xanthan gum in it already. This helps to bind the ingredients together and prevents your loaf from breaking when you cut into it. Go to my gluten-free pancake recipe to find out more about GF flours.
Try not to add chocolate chips to the batter itself. This makes the loaf dense and fudgy. It will look like it hasn’t been baked properly and taste too chewy.
Use a high quality cocoa powder, this will affect the taste as well as the rise.
Mix the batter very slowly and not on a high speed as this will remove all the air. You need air to create volume in this recipe. This loaf isn’t too high because we are using GF flour but the airiness of the loaf is definitely there.
Use overripe bananas. Bananas that are heavily speckled/becoming brown are your best bet. They act as a natural sweetener and thus not relying too much on sugar.

Substitutes for the baked chocolate banana loaf:

Flour: You can replace the gluten-free flour with all purpose flour, just remove the almond flour as well. It’s a 1:1 ratio, so replace the exact amount of GF flour with AP flour and remove the almond flour entirely.
Milk: You can use a plant based milk in place of the whole milk
Almond Butter: You can use macadamia or peanut butter instead.