I confess that I’m not much of a baker - but this is more for reasons linked to desire than to ability. When cooking, you generally want to taste the finished dish to judge its success or failure, decide what needs adapting to improve the flavours next time, and hopefully ensure that it will bring a smile to the lips of any dinner guests. The danger I face if that dish is a tureen of velvety chocolate mousse or a basket of cupcakes is that my sweet tooth will overcome my sense of portion control, and pretty soon my body will involuntarily wibble and wobble more than a jelly on a plate (and not in the way Beyonce meant…!).
But I was recently faced with a bunch of browning bananas that it felt wrong to waste, so I decided to risk temptation and try my hand at baking Jamie Oliver’s chocolate and banana loaf. Despite my Wonka-esque love of chocolate, I have somehow always succeeded in making my Easter eggs last for months - so this also seemed like the perfect opportunity to use up the remainder of my super-thick Green and Blacks 70% dark chocolate egg.
When I was younger my dad used to make delicious doorsteps of banana bread, which were satisfyingly squidgy due to the inclusion of copious amounts of black treacle. I was nervous about the effect that the sugar equivalent of tar would have on this loaf but still wanted to recreate the gooey consistency that reminded me of my childhood, so I compromised by adding golden syrup instead.
The finished loaf’s texture was a pleasing balance between soft sponge and chewy dough, oozing with mouthwatering chunks of melted chocolate. The golden syrup did cause the cake to sink slightly once cooled, but I felt this just enhanced its richness and overall appeal. So I very quickly chopped it into enough wedges to last the week and packed it away, before I could be seduced into having another slice…!
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