Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread (Vegan GF)

A simple but impressive vegan and gluten-free banana bread with one vanilla batter and one chocolate batter swirled together. Light and fluffy, moist and rich, this is delicious enjoyed all day long.

There is a back story to this recipe, one that starts with my friend coming to visit. She has recently been diagnosed with coeliac disease so is, as expected, cautious about what and where she eats and so I certainly felt pressure to not make her poorly as all it can take is a tiny crumb. So, I decided that making my banana bread of the month would be a great excuse to experiment with gluten-free baking and contribute towards this year’s Banana Bread Challenge (explained here).

Vegan GF Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread

Vegan GF Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread

This Vegan GF Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread took a lot of research, although I often bake with gluten-free oats or buckwheat flour, for example, I am still playing around with GF flour blends but I’m really enjoying it. So, I wanted to make sure this gluten-free and vegan banana bread lived up to all my other moist and fluffy loaves. I was ready to get baking when it dawned on me that she doesn’t like bananas. They are one of the very few foods that she doesn’t eat! So I decided to make it anyway and whip up another treat the following morning before she arrived (Chocolate and Coconut Blondies, coming soon!)…

My friend arrived and it soon got to elevenses when I offered her a cup of tea and told her the whole banana bread story and (hopefully it wasn’t a guilt trip on my behalf) she decided to try some. And she loved it. She preferred it to the blondies, in fact!

Vegan GF Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread

Vegan GF Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread

So, all that is to say that this Vegan GF Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread is great if you love bananas, but it is also great if you don’t like them. You can hardly tell they are in there, really. The cacao in the chocolate batter adds such a rich flavour that you forget about the banana. The chocolate chips on top only add to the whole chocolate experience.

The rest of the cake is made with a GF flour blend (I use one which is a blend of rice, potato, tapioca, maize and buckwheat), plant-based milk, sunflower oil, vanilla, corn starch or arrowroot powder (a key ingredient!), coconut sugar and raising agents! Stir it all together, and then divide the batter into two. To one batter add the cacao powder and this will thicken slightly but that’s ok. Then alternate between adding spoonfuls of the plain vanilla batter and the cacao batter. Drag a knife through the batters to swirl together and sprinkle with chocolate chips.

Vegan GF Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread

The Vegan GF Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread is easy to make and delicious to eat on its own, with cups of tea or spread thickly with peanut butter and drizzled in syrup. It is light and fluffy, with a moist crumb and crisp top with melted chocolate chips. The surprise when you slice the loaf to reveal the swirl pattern is the best part.

If you are looking for more banana bread recipes, how about my Ultimate Banana Bread, Biscoff Cookie Banana Bread, Chocolate and Cherry Banana Cake or try another bake like my Spiced Apple Cake or Rooibos Pumpkin Pie Muffins.

Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread (Vegan GF)

• Servings: 1 loaf
• Time: 50 minutes plus overnight soaking
• Difficulty: easy
• Print

A simple but impressive vegan and gluten-free banana bread with one vanilla batter and one chocolate batter swirled together. Light and fluffy, moist and rich, this is delicious enjoyed all day long.

Ingredients

• 3 medium ripe bananas (about 300g mashed)
• 100ml plant-based milk
• 65g sunflower or olive oil
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 tbsp white or apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
• 200g gluten-free flour
• 1 tbsp corn starch or arrowroot powder
• 80g coconut sugar or regular sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• Pinch of salt
• 25g cacaco/cocoa powder
• 40g chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 170Fan/190*C and line a loaf dish with parchment paper.
2. Mash the banana and add to a bowl with the milk, oil, vinegar or lemon juice and vanilla essence and leave for 5 minutes.
3. Stir together the flour, corn starch, coconut sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and a pinch of salt. Add to the wet mixture. Stir together.
4. Pour half of the batter into a second bowl and stir in the cacao powder.
5. Alternate between each batter as you add the mixtures in large spoonful amounts and then use a knife to drag through the mixtures to create the swirls.
6. Bake for 40-50 minutes until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, remove from the tin and allow to cool fully in the parchment paper on a wire rack. Slice and enjoy, saving leftovers in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Vegan GF Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread

I hope you will enjoy this recipe for Vegan GF Chocolate Swirl Banana Bread and please let me know what you think below. Tag me in your bakes, too – I’m @nourishing.amy on Instagram and use the hashtag #nourishingamy. I’m also on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest  – please say hello!

With swirly banana bread love x