Chocolate Almond Banana Bread

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a Bundt pan or two 9" x 5" loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and espresso powder (if using). Stir in the bittersweet chocolate.
3. In the bowl of a food processor, pulse together the sugar and almond paste until the texture is crumbly. Add the oil, eggs, and bananas and pulse until smooth. Add the vanilla extract and pulse a few times. You can use a stand mixer (or a whisk and elbow grease!) for this step, but a food processor is ideal as it will yield the smoothest texture.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the bowl of dry ingredients and mix together until combined.
5. Pour the batter into your prepared pan (or pans). A NOTE: You can use this batter in lots of different types of pans, from round cake pans to muffin tins...whichever pan you're using, just make sure not to fill it more than halfway, as it will rise up. Bake for about 50-60 minutes (if you're using a different, smaller pan, start checking much sooner), or until a tester inserted into the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it. Don't overbake! Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.