When I wrote this previous post about Dad’s Banana Bread (and the messed-up grocery order), I hinted at my intention to make this recipe from Smitten Kitchen: Ultimate Banana Bread. Because I already had the requisite 510g of mashed banana in the freezer, I only had to thaw it and was good to go.

This is a completely different banana bread, at a different scale, and is wonderful. This version is moister, darker, and sweeter. More leaning towards cake than bread, but still less sweet than a typical cake. I thought I’d miss the walnuts, and almost added them off-recipe. I think it wouldn’t be bad to throw some in, but I think I agree with the recipe… this is really nice without the nuts, maybe because of the leaning-towards-cake thing.

The headnote in the recipe makes a point of the loaf pan size. The author describes a specific size (9″x5″ at the top and 8″x4″ at the bottom) and volume capacity (6-cups) to get a loaf with a nice dome that grows beyond the pan. But, I suspect her measurements were taken to the outsides of a pan with a rolled edge, because the pan I have that came the closest is a half-inch shorter in each dimension (8½”x4½” at the top and 7½”x3½” at the bottom, measured from inside edge to inside edge*), yet came out to the exact right capacity (key recipe information: The batter “should come to just over ½-inch from the top rim”).

Normally, I just try to make sure my pans have at least as much volume capacity as a recipe calls for with whatever pan size they specify, and approximately the same shape. I don’t usually worry that much if my pan varies somewhat from the recipe. But, this recipe seemed specific for a reason, so I went with the closest thing I had. I think this wouldn’t have worked quite as nicely with the longer, thinner loaf pan that I have, and I like the loaf shape for this recipe.

The recipe insists on two tablespoons of turbinado sugar to contribute to the nice, crunchy top, but for me it was too much. I used sparking sugar (because I like the crunch of the big crystals), and next time I will cut this in half to one tablespoon, or just enough to sprinkle over the whole top. [Chris reports that she doesn’t think there was too much sugar on top!]

I still have one more 510g bag of mashed banana in the freezer, so the gift of the mis-delivered groceries keeps on giving!

*footnote: I wrote – and then decided to spare you from – a several-paragraphs geeky digression about pan dimensions. The bottom line is that pan dimension should be measured on the inside, because that’s where the baked product will be. Thick pan walls or rolled edges shouldn’t increase a pan’s baking capacity, right? But, of course, no normal person or company measures this way (I am, if not patently obvious to you by now, not normal). Smitten Kitchen already charmed me by providing both the dimensions at the top of the pan and the dimensions at the bottom, which very few recipe authors bother to do, so I forgive her the inside vs. outside measurement thing. ❤️☺️