Banana and Carrot Bread

Banana and Carrot Bread
Home Cooking

Banana bread and carrot cake are not just 2 of my favorite things to bake and eat. They ARE my 2 favorite things to bake and eat. If I had to pick the no 1's, banana bread would get the top spot for baking whilst carrot cake, the top spot for eating just because banana bread is easier to create (and I ONLY like carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, which takes more effort and washing up).

How about we marry the two? I read a recipe for banana and carrot bread and thought there is just no way this could possibly be bad.

I ended up baking this on a sudden urge one morning before work. I would advise against anyone doing that because it seemed like there would be enough time and then suddenly it was time to leave home and the loaf wasn't baked through so I took a gamble, estimated another 10 minutes in the oven and set the timer for 'auto off'. In this case, it worked out but if I was a bit off, I would've ended up with still raw batter or a burnt crust or even worst, burnt house.

I used this recipe and ended up following it exactly, so you'll find it explained below just as I did it.

Banana and Carrot Bread
Makes 1 x 9in loaf

Ingredients:

• 2 cups plain flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1 cup grated carrots
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease and line a loaf tin.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

3. In a smaller bowl, whisk the eggs, bananas and oil.

4. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just moistened.

5. Fold in the carrots and pecans.

6. Transfer the mixture into prepared loaf tin and bake for 55-65 minutes until an inserted skewer comes out clean.

7. Cool for 10min in the tin before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

When it comes to baking, we talk about one bowl recipes and this is the perfect example of just how easy it can be to create something delicious. I like to take photos of each distinct step when I cook so I can post them up as examples. In this case, it was really a case of mixing everything together and pouring it into a loaf pan.

My banana and carrot bread wasn't ready at the 60 minute mark and took about another 10-15 minutes. Keep an eye on yours and make sure an inserted knife comes out clean before you take it out to cool.

Toasted and dusted with icing sugar

Overall, this was a great tasting loaf but I'd say the banana and carrot spawn inherited most of its taste genetics from the banana bread. It almost exactly ressembled a banana bread and I couldn't detect the carrotiness. I'd say carrot cakes are generally more moist (oily?) and sweet, making them more suitable for dessert, whereas this was great toasted for breakfast.

Close-up bite shot

I pretty much only eat banana bread warm. I like it in thick slices either toasted (use a sandwhich press to avoid thick slices getting stuck in your toaster) or microwaved with a slab of salty butter.