Banana, chocolate and oatmeal tea bread or how I will never understand kids

One of the problems of my obsession with baking is that there’s no one to eat the tons of things I make. Joao doesn’t like sweets or baked goods and I cannot eat them all myself – no, that is definitely not an option. So it’s a great thing my nieces have been asking me for cakes. Since great part of my pleasure is in the making, we pretty much have that covered. I’ll have just a tiny slice – in order to tell you guys if the recipe is good or not, of course – and the kids will have all the cake they want.

Everything was going well - they loved both the orange and lemon cake and the marbled cake. So when I saw this loaf Valentina posted, I thought I’d hit jackpot. I’d even score a few brownie points for adding oats to the bread – which, you know, are good for you.

Auntie Patricia did not choose wisely this time. The girls did not like the bread – the older niece did not try it at all and the other one – who will eat just about anything on earth – told me she wanted a chocolate cake instead. :(

But not all is lost: the adults liked the bread.

Banana, chocolate and oatmeal tea bread

1 large egg
75ml vegetable oil
125g caster sugar
3 bananas – 2 thinly sliced, for the batter, and 1 in thicker slices, to decorate the bread
30g rolled oats* - set aside 1 tablespoon, for sprinkling
150g all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
40g dark chocolate, finely chopped – I used 60% cocoa solids

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/355ºF. Line a 1 liter (15cm x 7.5cm) loaf pan with buttered, non-stick baking parchment or silicone paper.

Whisk the egg, oil and sugar together until thick. Whisk the thinly sliced bananas into the mixture. Fold in the remaining ingredients until the mixture is smooth.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the surface with the reserved oats.
Arrange the thicker banana slices on top.
Bake for 40–50 minutes or until golden.
The cake is done when a metal skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Allow the tea bread to cool in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

* I used oatmeal

Serves 8