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I do not usually eat breakfast.
I am very much a coffee person, but it's pretty rare for me to actually ingest solid food alongside my coffee. I do not enjoy most toast, and while I love eggs I find the act of boiling them far less appealing than just sleeping an extra 7.5 minutes instead. The only foodstuffs which can really motivate me to eat before 12pm are baked goods. I love baked goods. I do have a blog called Aditi's Sweet Tooth, so I'm pretty sure you've guessed that fact.
My parents recently pointed out that despite appearances I am 24 years old, not 12, and so I cannot survive on a diet of cake in the morning. After much deliberation and scientific study, I have come to the conclusion that they are incorrect, and I can in fact have cake for breakfast. Specifically, this cake. This banana bread, which I have mathematically formulated and optimised to peak condition. I used this recipe as a framework, then sat at the kitchen counter for 30 minutes frantically scribbling calculations on a bright yellow sticky note while my parents openly laughed at me (we are a loving but fairly rude family).
This is the banana bread to destroy all other banana breads, because it is healthy. It contains more protein, fibre, and various other nutritious buzzwords than regular banana bread, and is therefore parental-criticism-proof. I also decreased the added sugar to just one-fourth cup, and in my opinion you can even leave it out altogether.
BANANA BREAD WHICH DOES NOT SUCK
Dry Mix Ingredients
0.75 (3/4) cups whole wheat flour
0.375 (3/8) cups almond flour
0.75 (3/4) cups white flour
1 tsp baking soda
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
Wet Mix Ingredients
0.25 (1/4) cups olive oil
1 ripe mashed large banana. Isolate this banana from the others mentioned below. Think of this banana as Rapunzel in the tower. Don't worry, you will eventually matchmake it with the other bananas, but that step comes later.
0.25 (1/4) cups sugar
2 tsp almond extract
Mix-Ins
2 ripe mashed large bananas
1 cup blueberries (they do add moisture, but I think you'll be fine if you want to use chocolate chips or nuts or some other dry ingredient instead)
Steps
Preheat the oven to 350F. Do this first, because I inevitably forget this step and then I have to just stand awkwardly in the kitchen for 20 minutes with a pan of batter, waiting for the oven to preheat. Line a 9 x 5 loaf pan with olive oil. Really rub it in, and be generous with covering every inch of the pan. This is essential, so that your cake doesn't stick in there like a giant banana-scented barnacle.
Combine the dry mix ingredients thoroughly.
In a separate and larger bowl, combine the wet mix ingredients. The lonely banana, by the way, is an egg substitute! I tend to use applesauce mixed with baking powder for most of the egg-free desserts I bake, because it's less obnoxiously banana-y, but this is banana bread. When they have been combined thoroughly, add the mix-ins. If you use frozen blueberries, like I did, they'll stain the whole thing aggressively purple. This is okay. It will still be delicious, even if it does look like Barney the Dinosaur.
Stir the dry mixture into the wet mixture. Don't stir too hard, because that'll make the gluten angry or something (look, I dunno the specifics, I'm not that kind of scientist).
Pour the batter into the loaf pan and bake the whole thing for 1 hour. If you stab it with one of those little cake spear things, it should come out pretty clean (a few crumbs are okay, since this is a pretty moist bread). If an hour has passed and the tester still isn't clean, bake it a little more. If that happens but the top is already browned enough, put a little aluminium foil hat over the cake, like it's a conspiracy theorist huddled in its little oven bunker.
Cool it in the pan for 15 minutes, then remove it and put it on a wire wrack to cool for a further 90 minutes. Yell at anyone who attempts to take a slice before it is cool enough, because banana bread does not taste quite as nice when it's too hot.
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