Chocolate tahini banana bread and a story about 'vegan' chocolate

This Chocolate tahini banana bread fits into the wholesome category of cakes.  It is strangely moreish despite being minimally sweetened.  I suspect it is not for everyone.  For me it was heavenly!  I loved it so much I dreamed about a good life where I baked a loaf every week to snack on.  This is not surprising, given that chocolate and tahini is one of my favourite flavour combinations in baking.  

After falling love with the Miso maple banana bread recipe that we adapted from Erin Lives Whole, I found a Healthy chocolate peanut butter banana bread on the same site.  I love peanut butter but don't bake with it due to my daughter's peanut allergy.  By way of necessity, I have discovered that tahini makes a great substitute for peanut butter.  Sylvia is not a fan of tahini any more than she is of peanut butter but she is more accepting of it being part of baking in our kitchen.  (I only use peanut butter for sandwiches and toast in our kitchen.) 

So I tried a chocolate tahini version of the banana bread.  It made the kitchen smell amazing as it baked.  My self control with a freshly baked cake is not great so I had a taste of it soon after it came out of the oven.  It was ok.  Then later when I had a slice of the cooled cake, it was amazing.  So so good!  This is one of those times that the room temperature cake is better than when it is warm.  Perhaps this is due to the minimal sweetening from banana and maple syrup. 

My first attempt at this banana bread was fairly close to the recipe with tahini instead of peanut butter and a chance to use my black cocoa instead of regular cocoa powder.  It uses oat flour so it is wheat free and it could be gluten free if you are able to find gluten free oats. It made me wonder if it could also be a good vegan bake, given that tahini and banana are often listed as substitutes for eggs in baking. 

The second time I made this bread I tweaked the recipe to be vegan by adding more tahini, chia seeds and water to replace the eggs.  Sylvia had made it clear she was not a fan of this recipe.  So it seemed a good opportunity to invite a vegan friend for a cuppa.  Again it smelled amazing as it baked but I knew to bake it enough in advance that it had cooled before Jo came over.  I used chunks of Lindt dark chocolate instead of the choc chips.

Just before Jo arrived, I thought I should just double check that packed of Lindt 78% dark chocolate.  I have been eating this instead of Lindt's 70% dark chocolate as I enjoy the added intensity.  I have used the 70% chocolate quite a bit in vegan baking.  I was surprised to find that the 78% chocolate has milk fat.  Reading up on line to see if this was the case for the 70% I found that the Lindt 70%, 85%, 90% and 100% all are vegan.  I cursed the chocolate gods for embarrassing me like this.

It would have been easier to fein ignorance and serve it up without a word.  But I figured I should respect Jo's veganism and fess up.  She was very gracious and ate the cake despite my rookie mistake!  (She also reminded me that it would have been different if there had been a dairy allergy involved.)  We both enjoyed the cake with a cup of lovely hot yuzu tea from a powder that I bought in a Japanese grocery.   The cake sliced well but was crumbly when we bit into it and needed a plate to catch the crumbs.  Perhaps the recipe could do with tinkering or maybe it was that the oat flour lacked the gluten of wheat flour.

This Chocolate tahini banana bread is great to make as an everyday treat and would be great in the lunchbox (but mind the crumbs especially if you are eating at your computer).  It is pretty easy to make.  In fact I am quite amazed by my notes of the day in March that I first made it: "went for an early bike ride, helped with online schooling, had a cuppa with a friend at a local cafe, drove to South Melbourne for lunch (where I was surprised at the noise of the Grand Prix), and drove to Northland Shopping Centre to get a new watch battery and buy bed linen to replace a worn and ripped sheet, then home to housework, dinner and baking."  Now that it is almost winter with chilly mornings and dark evenings, I just want to bunker down at home with a hot drink and a slice of this cake.  I hope to make it again soon!

More recipes combining chocolate and tahini in baking:

• Chocolate and black tahini cut out biscuits (v) - Green Gourmet Giraffe
• Chocolate chip tahini blondies - Anna Jones in The Guardian
• Chocolate tahini banana pudding - BBC Good Food
• Chocolate tahini cookies (v) - Green Gourmet Giraffe
• Chocolate tahini maca bliss balls (gf, v) - Green Gourmet Giraffe
• Tahini halva brownies - Where's the Beef
• Vegan tahini brownies (v) - Lazy Cat Kitchen
  
  

Chocolate tahini banana bread
Adapted Erin Lives Whole

• 2 large mashed bananas (~1 cup mashed)
• 1/3 cup tahini
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
  
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 tbsp water
  
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup oat flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips or 100g chocolate chunks
  

Preheat oven til 180 C or 350 C and grease and line a loaf tin (mine is 13x22cm or 5x9inches)

Mash bananas and then mix in the tahini, chia seeds, maple syrup, water, vinegar and vanilla.  Stir vigourously until well mixed.  Gently stir in oat flour, cocoa, baking power, baking soda and salt, followed by choc chips.  The mixture will be a loose batter that is easier to pour than to spoon.

Bake 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out in clean and the cake pulls away from the sides of the tin (in my case 55 minutes).  Best eaten cool.

NOTES:

I make the oat flour by blending in a high speed blender.  When I make oat flour out of 1 cup of rolled oats, it make more than 1/2 cup oat flour.

If you want to make this recipe with eggs, 2 eggs can replace the chia seeds and 2 tbsp water and the tahini should be reduced from 1/3 cup to 1/4 cup.  I really loved the vegan version but found it slightly more crumbly than the one with eggs.

I have found quite a difference between using Cadbury dark choc chips and Lindt 78% dark chocolate.  The choc chips add quite a bit of sweetness, much more than the Lindt but the latter adds more intense chocolate flavour.

If you want the banana bread to be vegan, check that the chocolate is vegan.  I was surprised to find that Lindt's 78% dark chocolate had milk fat even though 70%, 85%, 90% and 100% blocks are vegan.

On the Stereo:
Those were the Js (Live) - Sammy J