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Regional, seasonal food with original recipes by Susan S. Bradley

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Home/Chocolate/Spicy Chocolate, Banana & Fresh Ginger Tea Loaf

Spicy Chocolate, Banana & Fresh Ginger Tea Loaf

Spicy Chocolate, Banana & Fresh Ginger Tea LoafIt’s All Chocolate! All Month! in the LunaCafe OtherWorldly Kitchen. As usual during the Month of Love, I am covered in chocolate: milk chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, white chocolate, and unsweetened cocoa powder. All in an effort to come up with the most delectable, memorable Valentine’s Day dessert ever.

Spicy Chocolate, Banana & Fresh Ginger Tea LoafThis year, I want to create several homey, comforting chocolate desserts that are both out of the ordinary and easy to make. Nothing fancy that takes hours to make or breaks the bank. It has just been that kind of year.

Spicy Chocolate, Banana & Fresh Ginger Tea LoafLast week it was Mexicano Chocolate Ebelskivers with fragrant cardamom, ancho chile, cayenne, and Mexican vanilla. I pushed the whole adventure over the top by filling some of the ebelskivers with Burnt Caramel. But in essence, these are pancake balls, both fun to make and fun to eat.

Spicy Chocolate, Banana & Fresh Ginger Tea LoafThis week I supervised a bunch of bananas over several days as the skins turned first a speckled brown and then eventually almost black. I feared I was letting them go too far near, but needed the peak of full banana flavor for this tea loaf. Otherwise, the dark chocolate would steal, rather than share, the limelight.

Spicy Chocolate, Banana & Fresh Ginger Tea LoafWhen I tasted the batter, it was lovely, deeply chocolate with the haunting essence of banana. But it needed an additional counterpoint.

Spicy Chocolate, Banana & Fresh Ginger Tea LoafSo in went a generous measure of freshly grated ginger, a hint of cardamom, and enough white pepper to leave a lingering heat on the palate after the last bite.

Spicy Chocolate, Banana & Fresh Ginger Tea LoafThe result is exceedingly delicious, out of the ordinary, and, yes, memorable.

But the aspect of this tea loaf that surprises me most is its keeping quality. The texture, moistness, and flavor improved each day for nearly a week, right up until I ate the last comforting, chocolaty bite.

Spicy Chocolate, Banana & Fresh Ginger Tea Loaf

Chocolate, Banana & Fresh Ginger Tea Loaf

This is the most unusual banana bread I have ever created. I love the spicy heat from both the grated fresh ginger and the freshly ground white pepper. The hint of cardamom complements the chocolate exceedingly well.

vegetable spray
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons King Arthur unbleached, all-purpose flour (5 ounces)
½ cup high quality, unsweetened, NATURAL PROCESS (NOT alkalized) cocoa powder (1.2 ounces) (tested with Scharffenberger cocoa)
1¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon fine sea salt

½ cup unsalted butter, melted
½ cup sugar
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs, cool room temperature, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla

1½ cups mashed, very ripe bananas (about 3 bananas)
2 tablespoons peeled, finely grated fresh ginger (1 ounce prepared)
1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper (or less if you don’t want the heat)
½ teaspoon ground cardamom

  1. Set an oven rack in the middle of the oven with plenty of room above it and preheat the oven to 350°.
  2. Coat an 8½- by 4½-inch (5-6 cup capacity) loaf pan with vegetable spray and then a light layer of flour, tapping out any excess flour that does not cling to the pan.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  4. In another large mixing bowl, using a large whisk, whisk together the melted butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla until creamy and smooth, about 2 minutes.
  5. Stir the mashed banana, grated ginger, white pepper, and cardamom into the batter.
  6. Add the flour mixture to the batter, and with a large spatula, combine gently but well. No flour should remain visible in the batter.
  7. Spoon the batter immediately into the prepared pan, and set in the center of a preheated 350° oven.
  8. Bake for 45-50 minutes. If the loaf is pulling away from the edges of the pan, immediately pull it from the oven. Hopefully you will catch it before this point. Over baking this bread makes it dry.
  9. Let the loaf cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes before turning it out of the pan to cool completely. Cut into slices to serve.
  10. To store, wrap well in two layers of plastic wrap, and store in a cool dry place.

Makes one 8½- by 4½-inch loaf.

More LunaCafe Chocolate Cakes + Tea Loaves

  • Bittersweet Chocolate & Cabernet Butter Cake
  • Chocolate Almond Pound Cake
  • Heavenly Chocolate Beet Tea Loaf

Plus

  • The Wonderful World of Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
  • All Chocolate!
I Love Hearing from You!

Please leave a comment. Include your blog URL so CommentLuv will automatically link to your most recent blog post. And join me at LunaCafe on Facebook for daily adventures in the OtherWorldly Kitchen. Let’s get cooking! …Susan

Copyright 2012 Susan S. Bradley. All rights reserved.

Written by:
Susan S. Bradley
Published on:
February 12, 2012

Categories: Chocolate, Desserts, Valentine's DayTags: banana, cake, Chocolate, dessert, recipe, tea bread, tea loaf, Valentine's Day

About Susan S. Bradley

Intrepid cook, food writer, culinary instructor, creator of the LunaCafe blog, author of Pacific Northwest Palate: Four Seasons of Great Cooking, and former director of the Northwest Culinary Academy.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. jean

    February 10, 2015 at 8:46 am

    I’m always looking for ways to recreate banana bread. I’ve used chocolate before but never ginger, and I love the idea. Also, your ebelskivers are gorgeous! I bought an ebelskiver pan a few months ago and have not yet used it. (Maybe it’s time to stop watching those YouTube tutorials and actually try them myself!) Love this banana bread.

  2. heather

    February 10, 2015 at 7:42 am

    I absolutely love the chocolate and banana pairing, and I bet the spices put it over the top!

  3. Jameson Fink

    February 10, 2015 at 7:05 am

    I really like all these savory, spicy notes (cardamom, white pepper, ginger) as a counterpoint to the banana and chocolate. I once interned with a pastry chef who would use all kinds of unexpected ingredients (lavender, black pepper) that really changed how I looked at dessert.

  4. Miranda

    February 10, 2015 at 6:17 am

    What a flavor combination you have going on! I bet it’s insanely delicious! I could take down a piece of this that’s been warmed and buttered right now. lol

  5. Kristen

    February 10, 2015 at 4:44 am

    Pairing fresh ginger with chocolate–brilliant!

  6. innovative research clenbuterol

    July 22, 2013 at 9:16 am

    After going over a number of the articles on your web page, I truly like
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  7. pamela

    February 27, 2013 at 5:26 pm

    Hi Susan, I’ve tried several of your recipes and I love your website and inspired creations. This spicy chocolate ginger loaf is really awesome and I’ve done it twice, relishing every morsel!

    • Susan S. Bradley

      March 11, 2013 at 12:15 pm

      Pamela, you have made my day, thank you. So glad you are enjoying the recipes. I love that cake too. 🙂

  8. Lena

    March 12, 2012 at 6:12 pm

    Just to make sure I understand it correctly: You used a NON-Alkalized cocoa powder in this recipe, like Hershey’s, as opposed to a Dutch-process (alkalized) cocoa? Thanks.

    • Susan S. Bradley

      March 13, 2012 at 2:58 pm

      Yes Lena, that’s correct. The cocoa powder for this recipe should NOT be alkalized. Happy baking! 🙂

  9. Matthew

    February 12, 2012 at 7:09 pm

    WOW Looks awesome. I am going to have to knock up a batch.

    Thanks for the detailed overview of the production method 🙂

    Matthew

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