January calls for some comfort baking and banana bread is just the thing to make at this time of a year. I’ve made this Carob Banana Bread for the first time last summer during my holidays in Portugal, where carob is a local produce.
I’ve always loved the flavour of carob, it’s so distinctive and quite different to cacao. It’s also very good value, caffeine-free and makes an amazing addition to banana bread.
This carob banana bread is an easy recipe you can whip by hand. I’ve used a mix of buckwheat flour, oat flour, ground walnuts and carob powder for the dry mix and coconut oil, flax eggs and mashed bananas for the wet mix. I’ve added 2tbsp of maple syrup to add little more sweetness, but you can leave it out if you prefer. The combination of ripe bananas, cinnamon and carob creates enough sweetness in the recipe.
You could play around with substitutions for the dry mix, I think banana bread recipe is fairly forgiving. And if you prefer you can always use cacao instead of carob. Tastes amazing still warm from the oven. Enjoy:) x
Few more carob recipes you might like:
Carob, Walnut and Teff Muffins with Carob Tahini Frosting
Raw Carob, Coconut and Pear Cake
Carob, Fig and Almond Raw Balls
Carob Banana Bread (gluten-free & vegan)
Ingredients
- 3 medium bananas
- 95g buckwheat flour (3/4 cup)
- 50g oat flour (1/2 cup)
- 50g ground walnuts (1/2 cup)
- 60g carob powder (1/2 cup)
- 1tsp baking powder
- 1tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1tsp cinnamon
- pinch of sea salt
- 2tbsp ground flaxseed + 6tbsp water
- 60ml melted coconut oil or olive oil (1/4 cup)
- 2tbsp maple syrup
- 2tsp apple cider vinegar
- 30g chopped walnuts for topping (1/3 cup)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C (350F)
- Line 10" x 4½" loaf tin with baking paper.
- Mix 2tbsp of ground flaxseed with water and set aside to thicken.
- Peel and mash the bananas with a fork and set aside.
- In a large bowl whisk together buckwheat flour, oat flour, ground walnuts, carob, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and salt and set aside.
- In a different bowl whisk flax eggs with melted and cooled coconut oil, maple syrup and apple cider vinegar. Have all of the ingredients at room temperature.
- Add the wet mix together with the mashed bananas to the dry mix and mix until combined.
- Spoon into your lined tin, level the surface and top with chopped walnuts.
- Bake for about 35-45 min or until a cocktail stick comes out almost clean. Will be slightly sticky.
- Remove from the oven and leave to cool down.
- Enjoy warm or cold!
Notes
To make oat flour blend gluten-free oats in high speed blender or food processor into flour like consistency.
Oh wow the texture looks so spot on!! Reaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllyyyyyy wish I was eating a slice of this right now…
Thank you Aimee! I really wish I could share a slice with you! xxx
Wow that looks amazing! I wouldn’t mind a slice (or two..)
Thank you so much Stacey! I wish I could share some :)
Mmm this looks so good! I’ve never tried carob before what’s it like? Does it taste anything at all like chocolate? xx
Thank you Sasha! It has quite unusual taste, similar to chocolate, but quite different. You have to try :) xx
This looks perfect Hana! Great texture, I love chocolate banana bread but have never tried it with carob, I’ll have to check it out x
Thank you Michelle! Yes, it’s so different, definitely worth to try to see if you like it. xx
I am so excited about this, BUT, I can’t use oats at all. Can you suggest an alternative? Thank you! M.
Hi Minette, I find that oat flour lightens the mix up a bit, but you can use 30g (1/4 cup) of arrowroot or tapioca flour and add little extra of ground walnuts or buckwheat flour instead. Hope you like it :)
Jut made it today and instead of oats flour I used 30gr cornstarch and a little extra ground walnuts and it came out perfect. The only thing was that I had to bake for an hour plus 10 minutes (75mins total) until the cocktail stick came out almost clean. Perfect cake :-)
Hi Mary, I’m really happy that this worked. I do often find that with banana bread the baking time vary and can sometimes take over an hour. I think if you increase the dry ingredients or use less wet ingredients next time, it will be perfect and ready sooner.
Hi Hana. I didn’t see in the instructions when to add the flax egg. I just added it in with the rest of the wet but had to also add in about 2 TBSP of water to make the mixture moist enough. Can’t wait for it to come out of the oven as it smells so good.
Hi Darlene, thank you so much for pointing that out, I’ve missed it in the recipe. You did it right! I hope it comes out well and you enjoy the bread :)
Hi. I can’t eat flax, can I use an egg or two instead? Also, it’s hard to get buckwheat here. Can I just use brown rice flour instead? TIA
Hi Nancy, yes, you can, just use eggs and brown rice flour instead. They will work just fine. Alternatively you could also use chia seeds instead of flaxseed. Hope you like it :)
Looks so good. Will make it right now. Thank you for sharing.
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You’re so welcome :) Hope you’ll enjoy the bread.
Thanks for the recipe ! The texture was perfect. Next time I think I will add a bit more maple syrup or coconut sugar. I would also like to try to use almond or rice flour instead of buckwheat to eliminate that strong “earthy” taste. Do you think that could work?
Would be great to add a side of vegan cream to complement all flavors and to lighter the bitterness of carob ( I mean it’s like chocolate but it does to me have a bit of bitter taste to it…)
Thank you!
You’re so welcome Cristina, I’m so happy you’ve enjoyed the recipe. Yes, you can definitely replace the buckwheat flour with brown rice flour or other protein flour like amaranth, teff, quinoa or millet if you don’t like the strong taste. You could also increase the ground walnuts and oat flour and decrease the buckwheat flour. You could also replace the ground walnuts with ground almonds. I think vegan cream would be lovely with it, especially if still warm :)
Hello,
I don’t have any flax seeds at the moment..
How many eggs would I use instead?
Hi Mel, you can replace them with 2 eggs.
Thanks for the fast response!
I am going to try this recipe out today :)
I dooooon’t think I have tried a better banana bread. Loved it :-) The texture is soooo soft and perfect. Mmmmm :-)
Hi Kate, I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you so much for coming back and leaving me such wonderful feedback :)
Fabulous. My second try of this recipe. I had only 2 large bananas, swapped almond flour for the walnuts and since I eat gluten, used whole stone ground spelt flour instead of the buckwheat and oat. Also used cardamom instead of cinnamon, to see how it works, beautifully. And I was too lazy, at the end of a hot, humid long day, to activate my mill for the flax seeds, so used softened chia instead. Worked beautifully. Another great recipe, Hana, thanks.
Hi Keren, I always love your substitutions, walnuts, cardamom and spelt sound heavenly to me! I so miss using spelt flour, very tempted to use it again :) I’m so happy this recipe worked for you so well, thank you for your lovely feedback, so appreciated. xx
Yes, I read about the no gluten thing and since I have zero problems with it, I see no reason why not use whole spelt flour. I do make a point of getting a stone ground variety, so I get all the nutrients. I used almond flour from the same person who ground my spelt flour…:) wonderful small brand. So I didn’t have to grind the walnuts because the mill makes nut butter out of them and processor doesn’t grind them fully. So in this case I prefer to use store bought. Also, I prefer eating walnuts to grinding and baking them, so I get the omega 3.
I’ve gone gluten-free to balance my crazy menstrual cycles and not really missing it that much now that I’m used to it. Unfortunately there are recipes that are virtually impossible to make gluten-free, although I’m trying my best! It’s a challenge! Sprouted spelt flour is very tempting to me :)
Hi hana
Could I replace the carob powder with cacao or cocoa powder?
Hi Aneesha, yes, you can! But use little less, 30g should be enough.
Hi, I’ve just popped this recipe in the oven but mine needed an extra 1/4 cup soymilk. I used your cup measurements, instead of the grams and noticed that 1/2 cup flour is usually around 75-80g and not 50g! I guess that’s why it was so dry?!? I’ve bookmarked this recipe for over a year now and love the combo, can’t wait to try it later, thank you.
Hi MC, I do find cup measurements inaccurate, although I try my best to convert my recipes. I would always recommend weighing the ingredients for best results as the volume of different flours can vary with different brands. In some recipes you will have to make slight adjustments, but should still work well. Hope you like the bread :)
What would be a good sub for ground nuts in your recipies? Like in this one what coyld i use fr the ground walnuts.
Hi Jo, I sometimes use ground sunflower seeds which work really well in dark cakes (they tend to turn lighter cakes green the next day, it’s not an issue, but doesn’t look pretty). Alternatively you can introduce another gluten-free flour. The nuts add more moisture and help with the binding in the gluten-free mix. Also you can add some desiccated coconut together with the flour.
Hi Hana,
I have some dietary restrictions and cannot use vinegars of any kind. I’ve browsed on the internet and some have said to use lemon juice as a substitute, but I also have a mild sensitivity to citrus fruits.
How would omitting the ACV affect the loaf? What would you recommend as a substitute?
Hi Melissa, lemon juice is a good substitute, but if you have a sensitivity to it then you could try replacing the 1tsp of bicarbonate of soda with an extra 1tsp of baking powder (2tsp in total). That should be sufficient for a good rise. Hope it goes well :)
I made this. It’s healthy, low-sugar, and delicious! Thank you for this tasty way of using carob.
You’re so welcome Liz! So happy you love it :)
Looks amazing. getting ingredients out now. I have a nut allergy. Can I omit the walnuts? Do I need to add more flour or anything to the recipe then?
Hi Tam, you can replace the walnuts with ground sunflower or pumpkin seeds for best results. Alternatively use another gluten-free flour, desiccated coconut could work too. Hope you like it :)
I’m not into baking but i just wanted a cake tonight so i made this. I like the result and the texture is great. Yum ???? ???? ???? . Tastes good i nearly finished the whole thing.
I used whole wheat flour as that’s what I had in the house.
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you so much for your lovely comment :)
Hi Hana. I don’t have a proven with consuming gluten, do you think I could use all purpose flour instead of the buckwheat flour and oat flour. So instead of using 3/4 cup buckwheat flour I’d use 3/4 all purpose flour and instead of using 1/2 cup oat flour I’d use 1/2 cup all purpose flour. Let me know If that would work out well ? Thank you
Thank you for this wonderful recipe. Incredibly clean and simple. Having different intolerances this recipe hit the spot. I used carob syrup (fresh cold pressed carob syrup) instead of the powder and I used 2 eggs rather than the flaxseed eggs. I added a little honey instead of maple syrup. Turned out great but I only had a castiron pot to bake it in, it heats faster than a baking dish, I didn’t factor that in. The oven I should have put at a lower heat or kept as is and baked for 25 (check at 20mins) rather than the 30 mins I baked it for.