Bananas Foster 🍌 Bread

A delectable dessert or breakfast snack.

Mar 25, 2022

Banana bread used to be a staple of mine when I was going into the office every day. It was an easy breakfast on-the-go. I tried to make it as healthy as possible (low-sugar, high-protein, nuts, seeds, you know it) to keep me powered up for a morning of meetings. I never really thought about making something funky and decadent until I made a fully chocolate banana bread (chocolate base AND chocolate chips). It was a fantastic dessert or sweet snack that wasn’t too sweet.

This recipe is another banana bread twist, but it is inspired by bananas foster, a rum-caramelized dessert that is typically topped with vanilla ice cream. Ugh, heaven. This bread plays on that with a caramel swirl through the middle, sugar crystals on top, and notes of rum.

banana bread in a pan on a black stove. bread has banana slices on top.

My bananas foster bread can be decadent enough for brunch or topped with whipped cream or ice cream for a dessert. You can also cut the sugar for the bread base (by a third or half), add some pecans or chia seeds, and sub the butter with olive oil for a healthy-ish option for breakfast. Anyway, let’s get into it.

The recipe

Equipment:

Bread pan
Sauce pan
Wooden spoon or stand mixer with paddle attachement or hand mixer
Sifter or strainer
Oven

Ingredients:

Bread part:

3-4 medium sized bananas, just over-ripe (lotsa brown spots)
1 1/2 cups All-purpose flour (whole wheat or white), sifted
1/2 cup White Sugar
1/4 cup Brown Sugar, packed
1/3 cup of Melted Butter
1 Eggs
1-1 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
3/4 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Salt

Caramel part:**

1 cup White Sugar
6 tbsp Butter, cut up in cubes
1/2 cup of Heavy Cream
2 tbsp Dark Rum*
Sea Salt to taste

*You can omit the rum if that is not your style. The alcohol does cook off during the baking process, but not if you just eat the caramel out right.

**If you want to use store-bought caramel, do it! You can also find nice caramel at farmer’s markets or general stores. Trader Joe’s also sells a caramel spread for ice cream.

Steps:

To make your caramel, melt your sugar in a sauce pan. Make sure to watch it so that it doesn’t burn; stir it every few seconds. Once melted, remove from the heat and add your butter. STIR!!!! It will bubble a lot and that’s okay. Add your half and half, rum, and salt to taste. Let cool before adding to the batter.
Time for the bread. Grease & flour a 9x5 bread pan and turn on your oven to 350° (325° for convection).
Mash your over-ripe bananas with a fork or potato masher, make sure they are a lil’ chunky and not smooth; set aside.
Sift together your flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon in a medium sized mixing bowl.
Combine your egg, melted butter, vanilla extract, banana and sugars in your stand mixer, with a hand mixer or by hand; do not beat your batter but instead on a medium speed.
Mix on a slow speed and start adding your dry ingredients. Add slowly until combined.
Add half the batter to your greased pan and then add a swirl of caramel. Adjust with a toothpick or a chopstick to get your preferred swirl pattern.
Add the second half of your batter and add another swirl of caramel. Again, adjust. Add your extra caramel. You can even add some banana slices or nuts.
Bake your bread for 45-60 minutes, or until a toothpick comes clean. Convection cook times are less so check your bread at around 30 minutes and continuously check every 5-10 minutes until a toothpick comes clean.

Claire Cooks

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