Chocolate Honeycomb Banana Bread (Vegan Gluten-Free)

Light and fluffy vegan and gluten-free banana bread studded with chunks of chocolate and homemade sticky honeycomb all topped with a vanilla cream cheese frosting. Add on extra chocolate honeycomb for the tastiest chocolate bar inspired banana bread loaf.

The banana bread for July is here, albeit later in the month, but the wait is definitely worth the while. This banana bread is something I have dreamt about for a long time and it hits the spot with every mouthful. This banana bread combination takes my ultimate favourite chocolate bar (Vegan Chocolate Honeycomb), now made vegan, and my love for banana bread and combines them into one amazing loaf.

This Chocolate Honeycomb Banana Bread is something magical:

• Light and fluffy
• Naturally sweet and sticky
• Studded with chocolate
• Scattered with sticky gooey honeycomb
• Easy to make in one bowl
• Naturally vegan, nut-free and soya-free
• Easily gluten-free
• Great to make for friends and family

To say I am excited to share this one is an understatement and today is the day. Let’s go through the key steps and ingredients we need which are all outlined in full in the recipe card below.

The key to and the inspiration beyond this Chocolate Honeycomb Banana Bread is my love for chocolate honeycomb. A “Crunchy” used to be on of my favourite chocolate bars growing up and sadly they are not vegan friendly, so I set about making my own Vegan Chocolate Honeycomb which are amazing! Once you have made those, we can focus on the banana bread. Like all my banana breads, the recipe is different but simple and works every time.

• Ripe bananas: the riper the better! As always, I recommend weighing your bananas as they vary so much in size.
• Sunflower oil: this keeps the baked loaf really light and moist but you can also use melted and slightly cooled coconut oil. Another liquid oil would be great, too, like a light olive oil.
• Sugar: as always, coconut is my favourite for baking with and it lends a lovely caramel flavour and colour which works really well with the honeycomb. You could also use caster sugar or light brown sugar, too.
• Plant-based milk: just a splash is needed to keep the loaf really moist and I like oat, coconut or almond here. If you are nut-free, make sure to use a nut-free milk.
• Lemon juice: this reacts with the raising agents (baking powder and bicarbonate of soda) and the milk to help the batter to bind. You could also use apple cider vinegar which behaves in the same way.
• Vanilla essence: for a lovely warming flavour, although it is not essential.
• Plain or GF plain flour: I love using plain flour for the lightest and fluffiest loaves, and if you are gluten-free, make sure you use a blend with xantham gum in. I can also imagine that spelt or wholemeal flour would also work.
• Cinnamon: for the sweet notes. It is not overpowering, but if you don’t like cinnamon you can skip this.
• Bicarbonate of soda and baking powder: for the rise.
• Chocolate: I love to use dark chocolate here which is my favourite, but any dairy-free chocolate will do. I also prefer to chop it into chunks rather than using chocolate chips so they you can get more chocolate in each mouthful.
• Vegan Chocolate Honeycomb: before you start making this banana bread, make sure the honeycomb is ready. We add some of the non-chocolate honeycomb into the batter and then once frosted, add some chocolate and non-chocolate honeycomb pieces to decorate.

All the ingredients are mixed together to one delicious batter. My preferred method is to blitz all the wet ingredients together in a blender until really smooth, or you can mash the banana and then stir together. Sift the dry ingredients and whisk in together. Now fold in the chocolate and honeycomb and bake in a loaf tin.

The smells as this Chocolate Honeycomb Banana Bread are pretty wonderful – sweet and banana-y with hints of chocolate. It’s everything you want and more. The hardest part, as always, is allowing this loaf to cool down. But to not rush and skip this step.

The cream cheese frosting is simple but equally as addictive and I end up eating so much throughout a shoot as I frost the banana bread. Beat together:

• Vegan butter
• Vegan cream cheese
• Icing sugar
• Vanilla essence

Then spread it on thick and top with the chocolate honeycomb. The colours, textures and flavours are so inviting, we all just wanted to devour a slice (or two) with a cup of tea straight away! If it lasts long enough, you can keep this Chocolate Honeycomb Banana Bread for 2-3 days or freeze any un-frosted banana bread, too.

I hope you will fall in love with this Chocolate Honeycomb Banana Bread as much as we do. It’s light and fluffy, naturally sweet and studded with sticky gooey caramelised honeycomb pieces and finished with a sweet but refreshing cream cheese frosting. This loaf makes a great celebration or afternoon tea cake with friends and family.

If you are looking for more banana bread inspiration, how about my:

• Snickers Banana Bread
• Lemon Passionfruit Banana Bread
• Dark Chocolate Raspberry Fudge Banana Bread
• Cinnamon Roll Banana Bread
• White Chocolate Biscoff Banana Bread
• Here is the Vegan Chocolate Honeycomb recipe

I look forward to hearing what you think of this Chocolate Honeycomb Banana Bread so please let me know in the comments below. If you make this loaf, I would love to see, so please tag me in your bakes, I’m @nourishing.amy on Instagram and use the hashtag #nourishingamy. I’m also on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest  – please say hello!

With chocolate honeycomb banana bread love x