Proof is in the Oven!

This Week's TWD: Black and White Banana Loaf (pg 232 of Dorie's Baking: From My Home to Yours) -- this pick belongs to Ashlee of A Year in the Kitchen so make sure you check out her blog, which includes the full recipe. You can also check out all of the other members' entries by visiting the TWD blog.

Nothing like procrastinating. I decided at the last minute that I was definitely participating in this week's TWD. Lucky for me, I had everything on hand...well, except the loaf pan, that is. Oh, you heard right, I didn't even own a loaf pan...take one guess if I had ever made a loaf before. Yep, you catch on quick. After work, I took a slight decour to Marshalls where I picked up a nice Wilton loaf pan for $5...sweet! Did I mention I first had to assemble 2 pans of lasagna..one for our dinner tomorrow night and one to drop off at our friends' house on Thursday (they just had an adorable baby boy last week)? Ok, back to the loaf. I got started on it a little after 9:00 p.m. but it came together very quickly. It's the baking that takes forever. Keep in mind when starting that it bakes for 1 hr and 20-30 minutes. Yea, that's why I'm sitting here posting this at 11:00 p.m.(hey, hey, better late than never... and it's still Tuesday so I made it). And it's not even ready yet. The above picture will get me through until tomorrow when I actually cut it and can take a nice picture of the finished product. So far, so good....even the marbling looks nice. Go me! On second thought, the top marbling could mean absolutely nothing when it comes to the middle. Let's hope for the best, shall we? You shall see the inside tomorrow morning when I'm sure to be enjoying a piece for breakfast with a cold glass of milk. And then tomorrow night for dessert, I will definitely be trying it with a nice scoop of vanilla frozen yogurt. Can't let this pretty loaf go to waste now, can we? Didn't think so. Enjoy.

Update: This turned out great. It's a really nice texture and it's the perfect amount of banana and chocolate...and not too sweet. I'm so glad I decided to make it. Thanks for the great pick, Ashlee!

P.S. I baked for exactly 1 hr and 20 minutes...not bad but maybe next time, I would cut the time down by about 5 minutes. Also, I omitted the rum and the lemon zest. Instead of 3 oz of bittersweet, I used what I had on hand which was quite a mix... 1/2 oz of unsweetened, 1/2 oz of milk chocolate and 2 oz of semi sweet. I though it turned out great.