Double Chocolate Banana Bread : Ugly Duckling Bakery

Name: Double Chocolate Banana Bread
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 55 min
Total time: 65 min
Ingredients: ¾ cup (95 grams) all-purpose flour; ½ cup (62 grams) whole wheat flour; ½ cup (48 grams) natural unsweetened cocoa powder (plus more for dusting the pan); 1 teaspoon baking powder; ½ teaspoon baking soda; ½ teaspoon salt; 4 tablespoons (57 grams) unsalted butter (melted and cooled slightly, plus more butter for greasing the pan); ½ cup (100 grams) granulated sugar; ½ cup (98 grams) brown sugar; 1 large egg; 1 teaspoon vanilla; 2 cups very ripe banana (mashed, from about three bananas weighing 500 to 550 grams with peels); 1 cup (170 grams) chocolate chips (semisweet or bittersweet preferred)

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This Double Chocolate Banana Bread is the easiest, fudgiest chocolate loaf cake you’ll ever make. With cocoa powder, your ripest bananas, and enough chocolate chips to make a chocolate lover happy, it stays moist for days and works for breakfast as well as dessert.

So read on for all the detailed tips and tricks for using cocoa for chocolate flavor. Or just grab those over-ripe bananas (gingerly, please), hit that purple Jump to Recipe button, and let’s make this chocolate chocolate chip banana bread!

sliced chocolate loaf cake with chocolate chips on a crinkled piece of parchment paper.

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Ingredients
Variations and substitutions
Recipe tips and tricks
Recipe FAQs
Related loaf cake recipes
Recipe
💬 Comments

Ingredients

three brown speckled bananas, cup of chocolate chips, butter, brown and white sugar, cocoa and flour, egg, vanilla, and salt in small bowls.

If you’ve got ripe bananas, you probably have everything to make this chocolate banana bread.

The best banana bread bananas are heavily speckled or beyond. That’s because bananas get sweeter as they ripen. In my recipe tests, I used three bananas, weighing 500 to 550 grams in total with their peels.
A small amount of whole wheat flour adds a subtle nuttiness and is a tiny bit more healthy. On a related note, this recipe uses just four tablespoons of butter and no oil.
I bake with Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa powder. Natural (i.e. not Dutch processed) cocoa gives a deep chocolate flavor and reacts with baking soda for leavening. Dutch-process cocoa has been neutralized – if that’s all you have, skip the baking soda and double the baking powder.
Finally, it’s a double chocolate banana bread because of the chocolate chips that melt into gooey chocolate pockets throughout the loaf. Use semisweet or bittersweet chips to avoid making things too sweet.

Please see the recipe card below for complete information on ingredients and quantities.

Variations and substitutions

If you want to riff on this chocolate banana bread recipe, feel free to play around with what’s in your pantry.

You can add espresso powder to deepen the chocolate flavor like I do in my triple layer chocolate cake.
Slice a banana in half lengthwise or sprinkle extra chocolate chips on top before baking like on my Nutella banana bread.
Add one cup of chopped, toasted nuts.
Make chocolate chocolate chunk banana muffins.
If you don’t have whole wheat flour, use the same amount of all-purpose flour.

Recipe tips and tricks

I created this recipe when I was searching for a really chocolatey and really moist chocolate loaf cake. For team meeting every week, I brought in a different chocolate cake.

After a few weeks of different chocolate loaf cake recipes, all disappointing, an idea popped into my head. Maybe I could take a cake that’s already a moist loaf cake and substitute unsweetened cocoa for some of the flour. And so my basic chocolate chip banana bread got a makeover.

It’s pretty simple – combine the dry ingredients in a small bowl, including the cocoa powder. Mix together the butter and sugars, then the egg, vanilla, and mashed bananas.

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet, add the chocolate chips, and bake. This double chocolate banana bread takes a relatively long time to bake, and it’ll fool you into thinking it’s done. Use a thin knife and not a toothpick to check for barely moist crumbs, and tent the top loosely with foil if it’s starting to darken too much.

unbaked chocolate chocolate chip loaf cake in a cocoa dusted loaf pan.

baked double chocolate banana bread on a cooling rack.

Let the bread cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before transferring it to a wire rack to cool completely. It’ll hold together best if you don’t cut it while it’s warm, but I’ll forgive you if you do!

Store the cooled loaf tightly wrapped in foil or in an airtight container at room temperature for up to four days. For longer storage, you can freeze this chocolate loaf cake for three to six months.

Recipe FAQs

Can I use frozen bananas?

Yes. Thaw them completely before using and include any liquid they release.

Can I freeze this chocolate banana bread?

Yes. Wrap the completely cooled loaf tightly in foil and then place it in a freezer bag and squeeze out all the air. Freeze for three to six months and thaw at room temperature.

When should I use natural or Dutch process cocoa powder?

This recipe uses natural cocoa powder, not Dutch-process cocoa. Natural cocoa is acidic, so it reacts with the baking soda to create carbon dioxide bubbles that help the loaf rise. Dutch-process cocoa has been neutralized, so substituting it can affect both the rise and the flavor.

Check out other easy, anytime loaf cake recipes from the archives like:

Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-heart 💜💜💜💜💜 rating in the recipe card below. Let me know how much you loved it, or any problems you had, in the comments section further down.