Chocolate, tahini and banana two ways

Makes 10 slices or pudding for 2-3

250g (approx 2 medium) very ripe or

overripe bananas (skinon weight) 60ml olive or vegetable oil

50g tahini, at room temperature (do try to get proper Middle Eastern tahini, which is smokier and more fluid with a fullbodied velvetiness, than the more widely available Mediterranean one)

50g fullfat Greek yoghurt, at room temperature (but only for the pud)

1 large egg, at room temperature

50g caster sugar

50g soft dark brown sugar for the

pud; 35g for the bread

1 tsp vanilla extract

60g plain flour (or glutenfree plain flour)

25g cocoa

1⁄2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1⁄4 tsp fine sea salt

100g dark chocolate chips

1 1⁄2 tsp sesame seeds, to sprinkle on top (only for the bread)

Method

1. Heat the oven to 170degC/150degC fan if you’re making banana bread, or 180degC/160degC fan for the pudding.

Put a paper liner into a 450g loaf tin or, for the pudding, get out an ovenproof dish with a capacity of about 750ml; mine is 18cm in diameter and 5cm deep.

2. Peel the bananas and, either by hand or using an electric mixer, mash the bananas, then beat in the oil. I use an American quarter cup (60ml) measure to do this, and then fill it up with tahini (conveniently, 60ml of tahini weighs 50g) and beat that in. If you’re making the pudding, beat in the yoghurt (you can also fill the quartercup measure with it to get 50g).

Whether you’re making the pudding or the bread, now’s the time to beat in the egg, then the sugars and vanilla.

3. Whisk or fork together the flour, cocoa, bicarb and salt and slowly beat into the batter and when you can no longer see any specks of white, fold in the chocolate chips with a bendy spatula, which you will need to scrape the runny batter into either loaf tin or ovenproof dish. If it’s banana bread you’re making, sprinkle over the sesame seeds.

4. First, instructions for the bread: cook for 45–50 minutes until risen and firm to the touch, or until a cake tester comes out almost clean; some chocolate chips will make it a little sticky in parts. And don’t worry about the cracks on the top; that is part of its deal, as it is for the pudding. Let it cool completely in its tin on a wire rack and — if you can bear to wait — once it’s cold, slip it out of the tin and wrap it in baking parchment, then foil and leave it for a day before slicing and eating.

I understand if this is too much to ask; I confess I don’t always manage to wait.

5. And now for the puddingcake: cook for 40–45 minutes, depending on whether you want it to have a gooey molten centre or not.

Once it’s out of the oven, let it stand for 5–10 minutes before diving in for that first squidgy spoonful.