Gluten-free banana bread with chocolate and walnuts

I have spent much of my life making banana bread, says Nigella Lawson, and am always happy to have an excuse to come up with another one. A friend of mine had been begging me for ages for a gluten-free version, and this is it. The crumb is tender and light – the Greek yogurt helps here, and also counters the sweetness of the banana with its tang – and the nubbliness of the walnuts and rich goo of the chopped chocolate make it a gorgeous treat. I can’t stop eating it.

Makes 10-12 slices

175g rice flour (or gluten-free plain flour) 100g ground almonds 2 tsp gluten-free baking powder ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda ¼ tsp fine sea salt 500g (approx. 3 large) very ripe or overripe bananas (skin-on weight) 2 tsp vanilla extract 100g full-fat Greek yogurt, at room temperature 2 large eggs, at room temperature 125ml vegetable oil 125g soft light brown sugar 150g dark chocolate, roughly chopped 100g walnuts, roughly chopped

• Heat the oven to 170°C and drop a paper liner into a 2lb (900g) loaf tin, or line the base with baking parchment.

• Mix the rice flour (or gluten-free plain flour), ground almonds, baking powder, bicarb and salt in a bowl. Set aside for now.

• Peel the bananas and, in a large bowl – big enough to take all the ingredients later – mash the peeled bananas thoroughly. Beat in the vanilla, then the yogurt and, one by one, the eggs, followed by the oil and sugar.

• When everything’s combined, gradually beat in the flour mixture. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure all is combined, and then fold in the chopped chocolate and the walnuts.

• Pour and scrape the batter into the lined loaf tin – it will come close to the top – then bake in the oven for 50-55 minutes until shrinking from the sides of the tin, and a cake tester (if you manage to avoid the gooey chocolate) comes out cleanish but with a few damp crumbs sticking to it.

• Sit the tin on a wire rack, and allow the cake to cool completely before removing from the tin.

• Tip: you can halve quantities to fill a 1lb (450g) loaf tin; I don’t find it takes appreciably less time to cook.

Taken from Cook, Eat, Repeat: Ingredients, Recipes and Stories by Nigella Lawson, published by Chatto & Windus at £26. Photographs by Jonathan Lovekin. To buy from The Week Bookshop for £20.99, call 020-3176 3835 or visit theweekbookshop.co.uk.