Tuesday, January 26, 2010

TWD: Cocoa-Nana Bread

This week's Cocoa-Nana bread had me all excited. I like the chocolate-banana combo (although I was surprised to hear how many people hate it), I loooove adding chocolate chips to banana bread or banana muffins, and we all know banana cake is best when topped with chocolate-sour cream frosting. And my very first TWD recipe was for her chocolate marbled banana loaf, which is still one of my very favorites. So basically, all this bread had to do was wink at me from the corner and I was prepared to love it forever.
However, this bread was the rarest of all specimens: the baked good that looks better than it tastes. Charlatan.
I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either, and I was so ready to love it. Mostly I guess my taste buds were confused. The banana flavor wasn't very prominent, so I mostly just tasted the chocolate. And the texture was more like a cake than a quick bread, but because of all the cocoa it wasn't sweet enough to be chocolate cake. What...who...how...huh?

[How cute are sea otters?! That is all.]

The one thing this bread did have going for it was big chunks of chocolate. The nice folks at Dove sent me a Valentine's package with their milk and dark chocolate hearts, so I chopped up a bunch of those (a wee bit more than the recipe calls for, perhaps. Ahem.) and they added some nice pockets of melted chocolate for my tasting pleasure.

(Also, did you know that they're currently partnering with Martha Stewart, and inside each wrapper is a Martha-approved tip for making your Valentine's picture-perfect? Some are rather smurfy, but some are going to be used as weapons of husband hypnosis to ensure that I'm spoiled this holiday. Red roses in bud vases arranged in the shape of a heart, here I come!)

So yes. This week was a reluctant thumbs down for me, but it did remind me of how much I loved the marbled banana bread, so I may go ahead and make that and call it a success after all.

20 comments:

  1. Those Dove hearts look so cute, as do your loafs! I actually really liked this one!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sea otters and "smurfy"..I can always count on an amusing tangent Liz! Sad to hear it didn't work out for you, I love chocolate banana combos too, so was hoping this was a winner.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think it is official, Martha is everywhere!

    I agree that the loaf was a little underwhelming but at least they look great!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I will definitely be trying your marbled banana bread!

    If you like the choco-nana combo, I came up with these the other day:

    Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Banana Cookies
    http://siriouslydelicious.blogspot.com/2010/01/chocolate-chip-peanut-butter-banana.html

    Sounds like a lot, but I think you would like : )

    Love your blog!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sounds like we felt the same about this bread. My bread was good looking and all just not really digging the taste so much. I love your picture of the bread wrapped up, pretty!

    ReplyDelete
  6. wow, that's totally decadent, those dove chocolates mixed in. weird - i did marbled cocoa-banana bread so we must be on the same wavelength.

    ReplyDelete
  7. sea otters! so cute. Sorry that bread didn't live up to expectations

    ReplyDelete
  8. Your breads look so pretty! I wasn't crazy about this one, though the hubby is scarfing it up.

    ReplyDelete
  9. You know, after reading your post, I realize that I feel the same way. I liked this but maybe not as much as I thought I would.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I didn't love it either. But I love Dove chocolate!

    ReplyDelete
  11. I'm so sorry you didn't love it because it does look great! What a charlatan! I made these into brownies and for some reason, the banana flavor is VERY pronounced but I liked it!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Thumbs down with me too. Wanted to like it, but...

    Your texture looks great. Mine was soooo dense.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Hey! long time no see Liz! And I'm glad to be here for those little French like wrapped mini loaves! Weren't they amazing? okay... maybe not as amazing as those little sea otters, but I rather that for breakfast at least! LOL

    ReplyDelete
  14. I've had those dove hearts! And this WAS such an iffy recipe, but this looks amazing! Very chocolatey - much better than overly banana-flavored, in my opinion. Nicely done!

    ReplyDelete
  15. Such a pretty presentation of your little loaves. Sorry it wasn't what you were hoping for though.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous3:44 PM

    Well they look really pretty! I love those little Dove chocolates - they're the perfect thing to stash in my desk.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I LOVE all things banana and with chocolate in the mix, I love it, too, but, like you, this just wasn't my favorite. There wasn't enough banana flavor and the muffins were a little dry (I made muffins). I missed that swirl bread and now I'll have to try it!

    ReplyDelete
  18. I have to agree this really looked so much better than it tasted.
    Mimi

    ReplyDelete
  19. WOw those Dove hearts look beautiful!! And sorry you didn't like these, I think that was the general opinion though!

    ReplyDelete
  20. Well they look really pretty! I love those little Dove chocolates - they're the perfect thing to stash in my desk.

    ReplyDelete