chocolate banana bread

Today, I had J shake his head at me when I answered his question of 'Do you have a chocolate cupcake recipe?' My answer went along the lines of 'Yeah I do, I just need to look for it'...and there, on my severely leaning tower of a bookshelf was not one...but 9 cupcake books (plus another still to be shelved sitting on my desk). Grabbing the pink '500 cupcakes', J asserted 'It's sure to be in here' and well, yeah it was (all catalogued and indexed) but unfortunately, my pantry was short on half the ingredients owing to the chocolate banana bread I made earlier this morning. Anyway, we didn't get to making those chocolate cupcakes.

Introducing Julie le Clerc's 'Chocolate Banana Bread'. The recipe called for Dutch processed cocoa powder which the recipe claimed would improve its taste. In the absence of this, I stuck with Nestle's cocoa powder (though not perfect) has seen me through one after another chocolate recipe. Does anyone know where I can get said Dutch processes cocoa powder? Let me know if you do.

My loaf could've probabaly done with a few more minutes in the oven but given I'll be toasting the slices when I eat it later, 45 minutes was more or less about right. Man, I loved those specks of melted chocolate running throughout the loaf. Absolutely yum!

The slice I cut for mum and put on a plate. That half chewed piece on the rack is mine :P

For your interest, Julie le Clerc is another one of my favourite cookbook authors. As with Donna Hay, I love the simplicity of her recipes and the fact she makes cooking so beautiful and aesthetically pleasing. I'm in the process of hunting down two of her other recipe books (again, let me know if anyone sees any of her recipe books). Anyway, take my word for it, you can spend ages drooling over the pages of her recipe books. The awesome thing about Julie is that she has actually owned a number of cafes in the past. This insofar guarantees most of her recipes will be good but also, you'll find all your favourite cafe recipes accessible in that one book. Might I add, I'm still getting through it...

And whilst uploading photos, I came across this one. Good luck guys when you start Superior Patisserie. Wish I was there with you!

Gosh, I miss LCB!