Eggless Chocolate Cucumber Banana Bread is a great alternative to zucchini. Replace zucchini with cucumber in equal quantity and voila a great dish is ready. It is a no-fail recipe and substitution.
Choose from other zucchini recipes like zucchini bread, zucchini tart, or Zucchini chocolate quickbread.
Zucchini is a very commonly used ingredient in international recipes. But in India, it is not a local or commonly available produce. So it is sold at exorbitant prices usually in gourmet stores and that is too few days old and gives you the feeling of not using fresh food.
We get a close cousin of Zucchini in the form of Cucumber, locally. The purists would probably disagree but so far my understanding allows me to substitute it in place of Zucchini.
I have successfully used it in a savory bake – Ratatouille. This time I took another step and used cucumber in a zucchini chocolate banana bread. And I must say that I didn’t regret it.
![Healthy Eggless Chocolate Cucumber Banana Bread](https://lemoninginger.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/IMG_1648.jpg)
I made quite a few changes – replaced 1/2 cup flour with cocoa powder, added cherries, skipped applesauce, etc. Detailed chocolate banana bread recipe below.
One could feel only a very slight taste of cucumber and very palatable too. I am glad to have discovered another healthy breakfast option.
I adapted the recipe to suit my taste.
Gluten-Free Chocolate Cucumber Banana Bread Recipe
Chocolate Cucumber Banana QuickBread
Ingredients
- ⅓+¼ banana puree about 2 medium sized bananas
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ½ cup sugar granulated
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup cucumber grated
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup cocoa Powder unsweetened
- 1 tsp cinnamon Powder
- ¼ tsp all spice powder garam masala
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ¾ tsp salt
- ½ cup almonds badam, chopped
- ¼ cup cherries chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 °C. Lightly grease an 8½X4½ loaf pan.
- In a mixing bowl, mash the banana well, until no large chunks are left.
- Add the olive oil, sugar, and vanilla and use a strong fork to mix well. Mix in the grated cucumber.
- Sift in 1 cup of the flour, the cinnamon, allspice, baking soda and salt. Mix to combine.
- Add the almonds, cherries and ½ cup of cocoa powder, and mix just until no visible flour or cocoa powder is left.
- Transfer batter to the prepared pan and bake for 50 to 55 minutes. Test for doneness with a toothpick or knife. If it needs more time, reduce temperature to 150 °C and bake for additional 10 to 15 minutes.
- Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Slice and serve!
Notes
- I used Tupperware box grater to grate cucumber in short motion as described by Isa in original recipe.
- I skipped Applesauce and replaced it with same amount of Banana Puree.
- The height of the bread depends on your pan size.
- Due to reaction of soda, do the steps quickly or the bread won't rise well.
- Always coat nuts with flour or cocoa powder to avoid sinking to the bottom.
Quite different! I could have never thought of cucumber bread! I am eager to taste it!
Thanks Renuka! Do let me know how you like it
yummy, wanna have one
Come over and try some!
yummy
Such a lovely creation,looks so soft n moist,thx a lot for linking it to my event :)
Thanks Harini. You have a great event and happy hosting!
Wow.. look so beautiful and delicious… Thanks for sharing this recipe with my event.
I just made this today and it was absolutely fantastic! It’s an incredibly dense but moist cake. You did a great job of adapting the recipe.
Thank you Dave. I am glad it turned out great for you
hi,
I tried this bread yesterday. The top was burnt and crusty, and the inside was relatively spongy . I baked it for 50 min. The bread did not rise as much. What could have gone wrong?
Hi Janaki,
The timing depends upon your oven. Did you use both upper & lower rod to bake this? If you use both, then this could result in the upper crust of the bread to cook faster than the inside. To avoid this, it is ideal to use only the lower heating for baking and switch on the upper heating few minutes before the baking is done to give a nice brown effect.
Also, the bread would not rise well if you let the batter sit out for long as the baking soda would act & loose its rising properties. The best is to quickly mix, pour & place the pan in oven.
After doing these 2 changes, please try the bread again and let me know if it works.