Thick and moist with rich flavor, this banana gingerbread is full of warming gingerbread spices, bananas, and molasses. Serve it fresh or toasted, and spread with butter.
An easy banana bread recipe is always a hit, but sometimes a change to a classic is nice. This spiced banana bread is a gingerbread banana loaf combination.
It contains the sweetness of classic banana bread, combined with the warming spiciness of a moist old-fashioned gingerbread loaf.
Banana bread with gingerbread flavor
This is a quick bread because the batter can be mixed up in less than 10 minutes!
However baking time takes a little longer. It's baked in a loaf tin, which, because of its restricted size, means this banana gingerbread does take its time to cook right through.
It has the taste and texture of banana bread but it's also spicy and moist thanks to deep molasses, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. The perfect bread to bake over the winter holidays and it makes sure the house smells great. to enjoy with a hot cup of tea or your morning coffee.
The ingredients
This simple banana bread recipe includes the classic moist banana bread ingredients, plus a few spices and rich dark molasses.
The ingredients are listed in the recipe card below but here is a run-through of them with a few extra details.
- Bananas - Mashed bananas are an obvious must-have in a banana gingerbread loaf. Overripe bananas are best. They provide natural sweetness and flavor to the recipe as well as add moisture to the bread.
- White sugar - or you can use brown sugar for extra molasses flavor.
- Melted butter - Flavor and moisture.
- Eggs - The egg provides some of the structure.
- Vanilla - Always a good idea.
- Spices - a teaspoon ground ginger and a little cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves give the warming gingerbread touch.
- Molasses - Unsulphered or blackstrap molasses. This gives the rich dark color to the gingerbread banana bread as well as adds moisture.
- Flour - an all-purpose flour is the base of the loaf.
- Baking soda and baking powder - The rising agents needed to make a moist yet fluffy loaf.
- Salt - a flavor enhancer
- Boiled water - Adding hot water to the batter creates a more moist loaf.
Yield
This makes one loaf of banana gingerbread.
Equipment
You'll need a 9x 5-inch loaf pan (23 x 16cm.) You can use a slightly smaller one for a ginger banana bread loaf.
The method
Melt the butter and set it aside. In a large mixing bowl, mash the bananas well, then stir in the melted butter. Add in the sugar, vanilla, egg, and molasses and mix until combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, spices, salt, baking powder, and baking soda until no clumps remain.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and fold them together with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until combined.
Pour over boiled water and stir it together carefully until combined into a pourable cake batter.
There will be lumps from the mashed banana and that's okay!
Pour the batter into a lined loaf tin and bake in a preheated oven for approximately 50 minutes until the center of the bread is cooked through. The cook times will depend on the loaf tin used and your oven.
Remove the banana gingerbread loaf from the pan and allow it to cool on a baking rack for 10 minutes before slicing.
Serving
This delicious loaf cake stays fresh at room temperature for up to 3 days. It can also be wrapped tightly and frozen for up to three months.
Additions and substitutions
Banana bread is a great recipe that can easily be adapted to suit your tastes. Texture can be added with seeds and nuts, flavors can be changed with spices and fruits. Sugars and flours can be switched up too.
- Texture- Walnuts, pecans, or almonds can be chopped and added to the batter. In case of nut allergies, seeds can be added instead. Pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds give a great crunch to the moist bread.
- Stir in finely chopped candied ginger for extra spice.
- Swap the spices with 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice.
- Spices, fruits, chocolate - This gingerbread banana bread is already full of spices, but these can be changed too. Cardamom and all-spice can be added, or orange zest too. Dark chocolate chips are a delicious addition too, especially when the bread is still warm and the chocolate has melted.
- ½ the all-purpose flour in this recipe can be switched to wholemeal flour for a healthier touch.
Related recipes
Want more sweet bread recipes? Try this cinnamon glazed apple bread or these delicious brioche cinnamon rolls.
Homemade cultured butter is another great thing to try to make and spread on your loaves.
This recipe is written using grams as the main measurement.
If you don't have a scale US* cup equivalents are also included, however, using a kitchen scale to measure grams will give the best and most consistent results.*US cup sizes are smaller than metric cup sizes.
Banana Gingerbread with Molasses
Thick and moist with rich flavor, this ginger banana bread is full of warming spices, bananas and molasses. Serve it fresh or toasted, spread with butter.
Ingredients
- 100g ( 7 ¼ Tablespoons) unsalted butter
- 2 medium ripe bananas
- 1 large egg
- 150g (¾ cup) granulated sugar
- 115g (⅓ cup) unsulphured or blackstrap molasses
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or extract
- 225g (1 ¾ cup + 2 Tablespoons) all-purpose flour
- 1 ⅓ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅓ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 240g (1 cup) boiled water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 356 °F (180°C).
- Grease or line a 9x5inch (23 x 16cm) loaf pan
- Melt the butter and set it aside. In a large bowl, mash the bananas well, then stir in the melted butter. Add in the sugar, vanilla, egg, and molasses and mix until combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, spices, salt, baking powder, and baking soda until no clumps remain.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and fold them together until combined.
- Pour over boiled water and stir it together carefully until combined into a pourable cake batter. There will be lumps from the mashed banana and that's okay!
- Pour the batter into a prepared loaf pan and bake in a preheated oven for approximately 50 minutes until cooked through and a knife inserted in the loaf comes out clean. Remove the loaf from the pan and allow it to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before slicing.
- The banana gingerbread stays fresh at room temperature for up to 3 days. It can also be wrapped tightly and frozen for up to three months.
Notes
The cup sizes given are for US cups. Note that these are smaller than metric cup sizes. For best results, use grams.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 168Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 32mgSodium: 194mgCarbohydrates: 26gFiber: 1gSugar: 6gProtein: 3g
The ingredients mention light brown sugar, but the instructions don't. Is this added to the dry ingredients?
No it's in the wet ingredients part :), I just haven't specified the light brown part in that part.
This turned out beautifully! I used turbinado sugar but I might try light brown sugar next time. But it’s has a wonderful fluffy texture and flavor.