I have a banana bread weakness. Whenever I see a new and interesting recipe, especially one that has been raved about, I can’t help myself: I have to make it. I stockpile over-ripe, frozen bananas in my freezer (I think that’s a form of enabling) just so that I can bake banana bread whenever the mood strikes me, as it did the moment I read about this sugar-topped coconut version.
I had most of a can of pineapple in the fridge and thought it would be a good addition to the loaf. It was. And while the coconut and pineapple add texture and sweetness, the sugar on top adds crunch, and the dark rum adds a bit of luxury, my favorite part of this banana bread is the hint of nutmeg in the batter. Somehow it brings all the flavours together and makes them sing. I know this sounds awfully flowery for a loaf of banana bread, but MAN is it ever good!
An interesting thing about this recipe is that it contains no eggs. I have a habit of jumping into a recipe without reading it through very thoroughly, and I thought I had just missed them, but there’s really no eggs. You’d never know it though, because it is moist and light and delicious. I guess the banana purée adds enough moisture to the loaf, and it uses the combination of baking soda and vinegar for leavening. And apparently it keeps well, but I wouldn’t know because it barely lasted two days in my house. (I ate about four pieces the first day. Oops!)
A note about the sugar on top: the recipe calls for sprinkling the unbaked loaf with demerara sugar to give it a wonderful crunchy texture and sparkly appearance. However, the demerara sugar that I am familiar with is just extra moist and flavourful dark brown sugar, not the large-grained sparkly sugar that is described, which I would call turbinado sugar. I ended up using a little bit of both because I only had a tiny bit of turbinado sugar left and it turned out great, but the turbinado was definitely better for texture and sparkle, so look for large-grained brown sugar, whatever name it goes by!
Pineapple Coconut Banana Bread
Adapted from “HomeBaking: The Artful Mix of Flour and Tradition around the World” via The Wednesday Chef. I was tempted to use less sugar in the batter, but the amount was just right and the banana bread turned out perfectly not-too-sweet. Makes 1 loaf.
Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Butter an 8″ x 4″ inch loaf pan and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together:
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg (I eyeballed the amount and was probably a little under)
Set aside.
Purée:
3 large, over-ripe bananas
Set aside.
In a larger bowl, cream together:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated white sugar
Mix in:
1 1/2 tbsp dark rum
1/8 tsp white vinegar
Alternately stir the puréed bananas and flour mixture into the creamed butter mixture in 2 – 3 additions, starting with the bananas and stirring just to combine.
With a spatula, fold in:
1/2 cup dried, shredded unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup drained crushed pineapple
Try not to overmix the batter.
Scrape it into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle it with:
1 tbsp large grained, sparkly brown sugar (such as turbinado)
Bake in the preheated 350˚F oven for 60 – 75 minutes (mine took a bit longer) until crunchy and brown on top and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool in the pan for about 20 minutes, then remove from the pan and cool completely on a rack. Will keep, well-wrapped, for several days.
Sibella at bakingwithsibella.com says
Mmmmm, how yummy this looks! One slice please with my coffee this morning! 🙂
frugalfeeding says
I do too, I love banana bread more than most other things :D. this looks and sounds like such a nice variation, Korena.
Korena in the Kitchen says
Thanks Nick, it was really very good!
TheWhiteRamekins says
it’s a Saturday morning here and I am feeling like having it in breakfast 🙂
Korena in the Kitchen says
I wish I had some left for Saturday morning breakfast myself 😉
Sawsan@ Chef in disguise says
I do that too! jump into recipes without reading them through lol
I am saving this recipe because I too tend to keep loads of bananas in my freezer. I usually use them in smoothies but this cake sounds like a much better use
Korena in the Kitchen says
The number of times I have had to stop mid-recipe and run to the store… lol.
Smoothies are good, but you’re right – this is better 😉
Rufus' Food and Spirits Guide says
This is gorgeous. Wait, I don’t even like bananas. Oh well, I’ll just have half.
Korena in the Kitchen says
I don’t really like bananas straight up, but banana bread is a whole ‘nother story!
Lisa says
Ok..I wish I had thought of this! Pairing bananas with it’s tropical cousins is fantastic..and it looks so moist and beautiful. This is definitely on my summer quick bread list!
Korena in the Kitchen says
Thanks Lisa, it’s definitely a good combination 🙂
shikoomkoom says
Love the addition of rum here! I’d just like to say, that if you are not already famous, you should be famous. You should have a book out and I would buy it :3 (not to sound creepy)
Korena in the Kitchen says
*blush*
Conniee says
ohhh this sounds good! however is the dark rum and white vinegar a must? or can they be left out/substituted?
Korena in the Kitchen says
You could easily replace the rum with a teaspoon or so of vanilla extract and make up the remaining amount with water, but you need to use some kind of vinegar because it reacts with the baking soda in the recipe to raise the banana bread 🙂