This Spiced Banana Bread tastes just like chai tea. It is moist, sweet, fragrant and topped with a luscious spiced, sugary, creamy masala chai frosting. It’s so flavoursome you can’t even taste the banana! Not that I dislike bananas, but when you’re cooking up countless banana loaf cakes, the taste can get somewhat repetitive and boring so I mix it up a bit before I end up getting too sick of samey flavours!
Chai tea takes me back to waking up in the mornings at my parents home in the Midlands and my dad would have a fresh pot made for the fam – though it only ended up being the two of us that polished off the content of that teapot. I could hear him in the mornings grinding those fresh spices in the pestle and mortar.Cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, aniseed and some fresh ginger for good measure – I have yet to encounter a more heavenly spice mix. Just like my grandmother, my father would throw these into a saucepan with water, bring to the boil, then add the teabags. When that was brought to the boil, in went the milk and voila.
He made a healthier version than my grandmother – no sugar (she added a heck of a lot), plant milk (she added the full cream stuff) and eventually he moved to caffeine-free redbush rather than the black tea my gran consumed religiously. Both were equally delicious!
Questions about Spiced Banana Bread
How do I make spiced banana bread? Spiced Banana bread is made from bananas as the main source of sweetness and also to add more moisture to a loaf cake. They are mixed with flour, fat, sugar, eggs and a raising agent before being baked for at least 30 minutes in the oven.
Is banana bread healthy? Banana bread can be considered a healthy option when compared to other cakes since it normally requires less sugar due to the sweetness of the bananas in the recipe. Other healthy swaps can also be made such as using whole wheat or oat flour instead of white and olive oil instead of butter. However, banana bread is not a low-fat option and can still contain as many as calories as other similar desserts.
Can you freeze banana bread? To freeze banana bread, wrap it tightly in clingfilm and then place in an airtight container or bag before placing in the freezer. It can last up to 3 months. When you want to get it back out, allow to thaw then eat immediately, no need to place back in the oven.
What is in chai tea? Chai tea contains a mixture of spices. Although these varies from recipe to recipe or region to region in India, the basic recipe normally consists of cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and aniseed. This is then typically combined with black tea and brought to a boil. Traditionally, a lot of sugar and milk are also added.
Spiced Banana Bread Recipe
Serving size:
Serves 10
Ingredients for spiced banana bread:
- 250g whole wheat flour
- 75g coconut sugar
- 3 bananas mashed
- 2 flax eggs (2 tbsp ground flaxseed plus 10 tbsp water)
- 65 ml rapeseed oil
- 125 ml plant milk
- 1tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ½ tsp ground allspice
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
Ingredients for the vegan frosting:
- 75g cashews soaked overnight or 1 hour in boiling water
- 2 tbsp coconut sugar
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 2 tbsp plant milk
- ½ tsp cardamom
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground cloves
Method:
- Preheat oven to 180℃.
- Combine all wet ingredients for cake and mix well.
- Add all dry ingredients into the wet and beat until a thick batter is achieved.
- Pour into loaf tin lined with greaseproof paper.
- Bake in the oven for 40 minutes or until a knife comes out clean.
- For the frosting, add all ingredients to a blender and blitz into a smooth sticky cream. Add more spice and/or sugar if preferred and leave aside in the fridge.
- When cake has cooled, spread the frosting on top and serve.
Made this Recipe?
If you had a go at this Spiced Banana Bread please feel free to give me a shout on Instagram at @foodflaneur – would love to see your pics!
If you like banana bread…
You should definitely give these recipes a try:
Big Thanks to…
Ambitious Kitchen for my food inspo. You can find her recipe here: https://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/healthy-chai-banana-bread/.
[…] comfort food staple and even to this day brings me back to those cherished moments with my dad. My Spiced Banana Bread was also inspired by his creations actually – from his infamous chai […]