The hunt for Starbucks banana bread

Ali's son, Ben, will only eat banana bread from Starbucks. So I have made it my mission to try and find this recipe. Usually, my staple banana bread is the sour cream recipe. However that recipe results in a lighter coloured moist bread. Starbucks is a lot darker.

So in the wee hours of the morning during another one of my insomniac nights, I googled "dark banana bread" and found this recipe: http://www.grouprecipes.com/51782/black-banana-bread.html


Ingredients:

• 3 large black bananas
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tsp. baking soda
• dash salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup cooking oil
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup buttermilk 

Directions:

• Line two loaf pans with tin foil and heat oven to 275 F.
• In a large mixing bowl mash the bananas with the sugar and then mix with the salt and soda. Blend in the eggs, then, in order, the oil, flour and buttermilk.
• Pour batter into loaf pans and bake for about 2 1/2 hours or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

Buttermilk had proven itself to be the key ingredient in making chocolate cupcakes moist - why not banana bread?

Some alterations:
I didn't use two loaf pans, I just used one.
I added probably 1/4 cup more buttermilk.
I used 4 small-ish bananas that weren't black.
I couldn't stand waiting 2 1/2 hours so I put the oven at 325 F. It took 90 minutes to cook.

My parents gave it 9 out of 10, Nica only gave it 8. I'm with Nica. In comparison to the sour cream banana bread, this wasn't as tasty (but probably just as moist). The colour was definitely darker though.

The true test? Ben wouldn't eat it. he took one look and had a "I'm not eating that" face. Back to the banana board.