Let your bananas age for this treat...

One of our friends dropped by (Hi Louisa!) so she could see the updates going on with the house and we could also finally meet her new baby. Since she had a fairly long drive to come see us, we thought it would be nice to bake her something to take back for her family to enjoy - of course we did make two so we could try it as well! Bring out your extra ripe dark bananas and lets get baking!

I love the visual effect that recipes like this Black-and-White Banana Loaf have after they've been baked and sliced. There are a couple things that set this apart from your every day banana bread - the first would be the addition of lemon zest and juice that adds a bright and clean tang to the mixture. The fresh grated nutmeg lurks around and you don't necessarily notice the flavor, but then it kind of ambushes you after the first couple of bites. Also added to the mashed bananas is a shot of dark rum that I found to push the banana piquancy to the next level.

The banana batter for this loaf needs to be separated as one half is merged with bittersweet chocolate that has been melted and smoothed out with a couple tablespoons of butter. Being a dense loaf, it took quite awhile to bake - almost 90 minutes, so be sure to watch the top as you near the one hour mark. If needed, add a foil tent on top to keep it from darkening too quickly. This gorgeous loaf rose quite high and remained exceptionally moist on the inside. Besides the dramatic color difference in these clean slices, the plain banana side matched sufficiently to the slightly sweeter chocolate swirls without one trying to dominate the other.

Recipes
Black-and-White Banana Loaf