A rich chocolate loaf cake is stuffed with thick ribbons of creamy cheesecake filling, in this secretly healthy chocolate cream cheese banana bread.
It’s the ultimate option for a healthy breakfast or dessert.
The chocolate banana bread can easily be made egg free, dairy free, oil free, and vegan. And leftovers (if there are any leftovers) can be sliced and frozen, so it’s also great for breakfast meal prep.
If you love chocolate and cheesecake as much as I do, definitely give this homemade chocolate cream cheese bread a try.
Also make these Easy Cinnamon Rolls
Yesterday was our first real snowfall in two years, and I made this banana bread to warm up the kitchen after getting back from a bundled-up walk in the cold.
Along with a mug of Vegan Hot Chocolate, it was the perfect filling snack to enjoy while watching the snow blanket the streets outside my apartment window.
With the thick layer of sweet cream cheese filling, there’s no frosting needed, and please feel free to change up the flavor by adding a few drops of almond or maple extract or a 1/2 tsp of instant coffee to the batter before baking.
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For a flourless version, try this Almond Flour Banana Bread.
If you want to make it into flourless chocolate banana bread, simply add 1/4 cup cocoa powder, decrease the almond meal by 3 tbsp, and add 3-4 tbsp sugar or erythritol.
Above, watch me make the original Chocolate Banana Bread
The recipe was adapted from my Healthy Banana Bread and from this Chocolate Zucchini Bread.
Chocolate Cream Cheese Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 2 cups banana (for banana-free, try this Chocolate Yogurt Loaf)
- 2 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp white or cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup oil or milk of choice
- 2/3 cup pure maple syrup, honey, or agave
- 1 3/4 cup spelt, white, or oat flour (flourless option listed above)
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp dutch cocoa (or additional regular)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 3/4 tsp each: baking powder and salt
- optional 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Cream Cheese Filling
- 8 oz cream cheese (store-bought, or homemade vegan cream cheese)
- 1/3 cup powdered sugar or erythritol (or 1/8 tsp uncut stevia)
- 3 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
Instructions
- Bring cream cheese to room temperature. Beat filling ingredients until smooth, using beaters if you can for optimum smoothness. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease or line a 9×5 loaf pan. Whisk all bread ingredients in a bowl, and stir until just evenly combined. Spread about 2/3 of the batter into the pan, smooth the filling on top, then cover with remaining batter. Sprinkle extra chocolate chips on top if desired. Bake on the center rack 50 minutes, then keep door closed but turn off oven and let sit an additional 10 minutes before removing from the oven. If you can wait, I recommend very loosely covering and refrigerating overnight because it is sweeter and firmer the next day.View Nutrition Facts
Notes
More Healthy Breakfast Ideas
(or these Keto Blueberry Muffins)
This looks delicious, but I am sadly a die-hard cheesecake hater. But I have one questio about a different dessert. The black bean brownie recipe- with all of its dark glory and raving reviews, does not explain why the chocolate chips are not optional. So may I ask- why do you have to put them in?? Will the batter not bake into brownies if you omit them. I have to have sugar free chocolate chips, and they are oh-so expensive. Would really love a sub or referral. Thanks for your recipes, and I plan to make the chocolate banana bread without a cheesy ribbon next weekend.
It’s for taste – they will not be chocolatey enough without it. You can experiment by adding something like extra nut butter or fat, but we haven’t tried so can’t say how that might work. Edible experiments are fun!
Hi Kristian! check out Katie’s recipe for sugar-free chocolate to make your own. So easy and great tasting! The recipe for chocolate chips is not recommended for baking, but check out the recipe under the main one to make your own–just take Baker’s chocolate, melt, and add sugar-free sweetener to taste. Yummy!! She has a spot on there to get chocolate chip mold from Amazon cheap 🙂
Tricia
Hi Katie, can dates be subbed for the maple syrup for the chocolate cream cheese banana bread? Let me know, thanks!
Sorry we have never tried it!
Nice article to read..
Great Recipe!
I want to try this recipe but what can I sub for the white flour? I don’t understand the instructions above about reducing the almond flour since there is no almond flour in this recipe posted.
“ If you want to make it into flourless chocolate banana bread, simply add 1/4 cup cocoa powder, decrease the almond meal by 3 tbsp, and add 3-4 tbsp sugar or erythritol.”
Hi, for the almond flour banana bread, click on the link. Then decrease the almond meal in the linked recipe by 3 tbsp and add the ingredients to that version. Or if you want to use spelt flour for this (non-linked) version, that works too.
Could sugar be used instead of the liquid sweetener? If so how much? And I guess I would have to add some other liquid as well? Thanks!
Sorry we haven’t tried so honestly can’t say how to do it with a granulated sweetener. Be sure to report back if you experiment!
Could golden syrup be used instead of maple syrup/honey?
We have never tried golden syrup in anything, but if you usually use it as a replacement in other baked good recipes that call for maple syrup then we don’t see why it shouldn’t also work here.
Much thanks for this recipe.
Made this for the holidays and everyone loved it! The cream cheese filling was awesome, and the bread was moist and delicious. Will definitely be making again, thank you for this great recipe.
Great recipe. I would cook it less time based on my oven but the recipe is amazing and I’ve made a lot of banana breads.