Sugar is a staple ingredient in most traditional sweet bakes but it’s not always necessary.

While classics like Victoria’s sponge cake and chocolate brownies rely on it for a punch of flavour, banana bread is easy to sweeten up in its absence.

Similar to carrot cake, the fruit is responsible for most of the flavour and texture of banana bread, as Yummy Little Belly author and dietician Romina Bertinazz revealed in her cookbook.

Sharing the healthy recipe, she said: “These banana bread muffins are sweetened with bananas only…For best results and a naturally sweet flavour choose fully ripe bananas for this recipe.”

The formula does include optional dark chocolate for an extra layer of flavour, but when made without it, the banana bread muffins are even healthier.

Banana bread recipe

Ingredients (12 muffins)

400g overripe bananas

200g oat flour

30g smooth peanut butter

Four teaspoons of baking powder

60ml milk

60g dark chocolate, chopped (optional)

Method

Preparing the muffins takes a mere 10 minutes to do as the ingredients can be mixed in one large bowl.

Before making the batter, however, it’s best to preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/350F/Gas 4. Next, line a 12-hole muffin tin with liners.

Now peel and break up the bananas into the bowl and mash with a fork. Add the remaining ingredients one at a time and mix well to combine.

When the mixture is smooth enough to resemble a cake batter, carefully portion it out into the muffin liners using a dessert spoon.

Bake the muffins in the oven for 18 to 20 minutes until they’re nicely golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Remove the cakes from the oven and leave them to cool before serving.