TWD: Black and White Banana Loaf

At first glance, this looked exactly like the marbled perfection pound cake by Dorie that I made a few months ago. The marbling was the same but this loaf hid one of my favorite fruits...bananas! To say I was excited for this weeks Tuesdays with Dorie recipe is an understatement. Anytime I get to cook or bake with bananas makes me happy. Ashlee of A Year in the Kitchen was the chosen one this week and she made a great pick!

I bought bananas earlier in the week (I like to use them in smoothies to take to work) and I decided to put them in on of the Debbie Myer Green Bags that my grandparents had given me. I'm always doubtful of things like that I see on those infomercials but they swore they worked so I thought I'd give it a shot. Note to self...they may work on other fruits and veggies but they don't work on bananas. They actually ripened them a lot faster than normal. In fact, they were still partially green when I bought them and 2 days later the outsides were nearly black. There was a lot of moisture in the bag everyday and wiping it out didn't help at all. I had not planned on making my black and white banana loaf until later in the week but come Wednesday, I had no choice since my bananas were not looking so hot anymore.

I used 3 bananas even though the recipe calls for 1 1/2. I had pretty small ones so I used extra and I love banana flavor anyway. I ended up using milk chocolate instead of bittersweet because I was out of anything else. I decreased the sugar a bit so it wouldn't be too sweet in the end.

Last time I did marbling, I used the every other spoonful of batters technique. This time I decided to use one of the other techniques that Dorie mentions. I did alternating rows of chocolate and plain then swirled when I was done layering. I ended up with slightly more plain batter so the bottom of the loaf had more white when baked. It was actually pretty fun to do marbling this way and I liked the way it looked so I may be using it more in the future.

I was expecting more of a bread like consistency but this was definitely more cake like. And cake is definitely not a bad thing. I was afraid it would still be too sweet even though I decreased the sugar but I didn't have to worry. It had just the right amount of sweetness. The banana flavor was intense but not overwhelming. Like most banana breads or cakes, it was extremely moist.  I took slices to work for breakfast a few times and it was a perfect way to start the day! Maybe I should eat cake for breakfast more often! I think Charlie would definitely agree~!

Next week will be Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream that Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity has chosen for us. Sounds delicious!

For this weeks recipe, please visit Ashlee at A Year in the Kitchen.

To see more tasty Black and White Banana Loaf, check out the other TWD bakers here!