Banana bread with marron glace

This banana bread with marron glace is a small tune-up of the Starbucks-style banana bread, to which I have added six chocolate or marron glace chestnuts and a few pieces of almonds that were left over from garnishing the roscones de Reyes from the other day. In short, nothing was left over, so it seems that it was liked.

The popularization of Banana Bread or banana bread in American cuisine occurred thanks to one of the most important inventions in the kitchen, the discovery of baking soda or chemical yeast.

It was in the 30s, when this ingredient appeared for the first time in 1933 in the Pillsbury cookbook, very famous in its time for its cooking competitions. The origin of this cake is unknown, although some speculate that it must have arisen after the discovery of potassium carbonate (K2CO3) in 1742 and its subsequent introduction into the kitchen.

The simplicity of this recipe made it one of the favorites of American households and then spread to the rest of the world. The recipe is simple and the ingredients cheap. The result, simply spectacular. I encourage you to try it at home, you will repeat.

Ingredients for Banana bread with marron glace

• 225 g of flour.
• 225 g of sugar.
• 225 g of butter at room temperature.
• 4 very ripe Canarian bananas.
• 4 large eggs.
• ½ tablespoon of baking soda.
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
• 1 teaspoon of Royal type baking powder.
• 1 pinch of salt.
• ½ glass of whole milk.
• 5 brown Glacé chestnuts (Cuevas brand)
• 50 g of chopped almonds

Preparation of the Banana bread with marron glace

1. We grease a cake mold, I have chosen a cake mold, but you can use the one you like the most. Spread with butter and sprinkle with a little flour.
2. Put the bananas (which are ripe), the sugar and the milk in a bowl. Mash with a fork until a light puree is left but in which the banana pieces are noticeable. This puree is the one that will give the banana bread that delicious touch, with a slight sweetness but not too much.
3. We sift the flour and baking powder to avoid small impurities, in this case we are going to use chemical yeast or baking powder (as they call it in America) Royal type. Add the baking soda and salt to the bowl. We stir together these ingredients.
4. Mix the creamy butter (at room temperature) and the vanilla essence until creamy, then add the eggs one by one. We add everything to the previous mix. We beat everything well until a soft sponge cream is left.
5. Once we have the base cream, the most important step comes, we mix with the crushed banana pieces that we will distribute with a fork through the cream so that the banana pieces can be seen.
6. We cut the Marron Glacé into 4 equal pieces. I have used a well-known brand in Ourense, Cuevas, specialists in Marron Glacé.
7. Pour the mixture into the cake mold and add the pieces of chocolate chestnut. I also added some pieces of chopped almonds that I had left over from another dessert, about 50 grams, for a touch of nuts.
8. We bake the cake in the oven preheated to 180º degrees for 40-45 minutes (as I mentioned in some other recipe, it all depends on the oven, always look with a fork that it stays dry). The last 10 minutes cover the bread with a piece of aluminum foil so that it is not too toasted.
9. We remove from the oven and let cool. We unmold with care and try it.

The milk was not in the original recipe but it gives the cake a creamier touch. You can remove it from the recipe if you wish, it comes out quite similar. Another advantage of this dessert for breakfast or snack is that it lasts for several days thanks to the texture that the banana gives it, which makes it look like it is freshly made.