Soft, flavorful, and easy to make: these are the qualities that make banana bread a staple in every home.
Whether you have a family gathering or simply crave something yummy, banana bread is the answer.
And if you ever get tired of the good old classic recipe, you can decorate it with a variety of ingredients, from chocolate chips to coconut frosting.
This brings us to this article’s topic, which is how to decorate banana bread. Read on to learn about some easy and delicious decoration ideas for banana bread.
1 – Banana Bread With Chocolate Chips
Difficulty: The easiest
Time: 5 minutes
Nothing like chocolate chips can make anything look and taste delicious. Try this recipe out for your kids, and they’ll clean up their plates in a couple of minutes!
Ingredients
- Chocolate chips
- Walnuts
- Pistachios
Instructions
Prepare the banana bread dough the way you always do, and then add chocolate chips to it.
Now, before you put the banana bread in the oven, sprinkle more chocolate chips on top.
We personally like to throw in some nuts to increase the nutritional value of banana bread. Walnuts are excellent for improving memory, and pistachios are known for being protein-rich.
2 – Strawberry Banana Bread
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 10 minutes
This yummy strawberry banana bread recipe will leave you wanting more, especially if you’re someone who’s into strawberries.
Ingredients
- 75g chopped strawberries
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 125g butter
Instructions
Here are the instructions for making banana bread with strawberry icing:
Step 1. Make Strawberry Syrup
Add the chopped strawberries and 1 teaspoon of brown sugar to a pan. Heat the pan on the stove and let the mix cook until the sugar melts into the strawberries.
Once the mix turns to a watery consistency, let it cook for 3 more minutes until the mixture thickens a bit. Now you got strawberry syrup!
Step 2. Mix Wet Ingredients
Put the butter in a bowl and mix it with a hand blender until you get a creamy mixture. As you blend the butter, slowly add 1 ½ cups of icing sugar to it.
Step 3. Make Strawberry Icing
Once the butter is creamy, gradually pour the strawberry syrup as you continuously blend the mix. Now, the icing is ready for decorating.
Step 4. Decorate Banana Bread
Evenly spread the strawberry icing all over the banana bread. Then, slice some strawberries in halves and add them at the top to get stunning Strawberry banana bread.
3 – Banana Bread With Coconut Frosting
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 5 minutes
Surprisingly, banana bread meshes really well with coconut. The sweet yet salty flavor of coconut enhances the buttery taste of banana bread.
Not convinced yet? Try it out and see for yourself.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoon icing sugar
- 140g coconut flakes
- 3 tablespoon coconut cream
- 85g cream cheese
- 42g unsalted butter
Instructions
Here’s how to make coconut frosting for banana bread:
Step 1. Make Coconut Frosting
In a bowl, pour the icing sugar, cream cheese, and coconut cream, then mix them with the hand blender.
Slowly add the butter as you continuously blend the mix until you get a soft and creamy consistency.
Step 2. Decorate Banana Bread
Grab the yummy coconut frosting and pour it onto the banana bread. Gently even out the icing with a spoon.
Add the coconut flakes on the top, and you may want to add some chopped pineapple pieces for a tangy flavor.
4 – Banana Bread With Honey Icing
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 8 minutes
You’ll love banana bread with honey icing if you’re in the mood for a sweet and sugary treat. Here’s how you can make it.
Ingredients
- 100g butter
- 360g icing sugar
- 2 teaspoon honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 4 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
Step 1. Make Honey Icing
Add the butter to an empty bowl and whip it until it’s softened. Mix the rest of the ingredients with the butter.
Then, stir the entire mixture as you slowly increase the speed of the hand blender. Once you get a creamy blend, stop stirring.
Step 2. Decorate Banana Bread
Pour the honey frosting onto the top of the banana bread, and enjoy!
5 – Banana Bread With Vanilla Frosting
Difficulty: Easy
Time: 8 minutes
You can never go wrong with vanilla frosting. It’s such a classic that can bring any cake up to the next level. Here’s how you can make it yourself:
Ingredients
- ½ teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoon milk
- 2 tablespoon softened butter
- 400g sugar
Instructions
Step 1. Mix Ingredients
Add all the ingredients to a medium-sized bowl. Then, stir using an electric blender until you get a thick and fluffy mix.
Step 2. Decorate
Coat the banana bread with vanilla icing. Then, remove the excess vanilla from the banana bread using a spatula. Finally, enjoy!
6 – Banana Bread With Chocolate Icing
Difficulty: Very easy
Time: 5 minutes
Chocolate frost is yet another classic that never goes out of style, and you’ll only need four basic ingredients!
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon softened butter
- 2 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- 125g icing sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
Here are the instructions:
Step 1. Mix Ingredients
Add all the ingredients to a medium-sized bowl, then gently stir with a whisk.
Step 2. Add Water
As you stir and the mix starts drying out, add 1 tablespoon of boiling water. You might need to add more water, depending on whether there’s still cocoa powder in the mix.
Step 3. Decorate
As mentioned earlier, coat the banana bread with the chocolate icing, then remove the excess with a spatula.
7 – Banana Bread With Peanut Butter Icing
Difficulty: Very easy
Time: 3 minutes
We know that once you try out putting peanut butter on banana bread, you’ll never be the same again. Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon peanut butter
- 2 tablespoon milk
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 65g sugar
Instructions
Add all the ingredients to a medium-sized bowl and thoroughly whip the mix. Then, simply cover the top of the banana bread with the peanut butter frosting.
8 – Banana Bread With Caramelized Bananas
Difficulty: Medium
Time: 15 minutes
Fancy something that’s a bit over the top? Try banana bread with caramelized bananas! This recipe will take more time than most other recipes, but it’s so worth it.
Ingredients
- 3 teaspoon softened butter
- 2 tablespoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon cream
- 1 teaspoon
- 1 banana (not over-ripened this time!)
Instructions
Here are the steps you need to follow:
Step 1. Make Caramel
Add the softened butter, sugar, cinnamon, and cream in a pan over medium heat.
Step 2. Add Banana Slices
Cut the banana into thin slices and add them to the pan. Quickly stir the pan until the mix is caramelized and the banana slices are a bit mushy.
Step 3. Decorate
Pour the caramelized bananas onto the top of the banana bread and enjoy!
9 – Banana Bread With Streusel Topping
Difficulty: Piece of cake!
Time: 3 minutes
A streusel topping is another classic that goes well with everything. Try this out if you’re on the run but still want to give your banana bread a bit of personality.
Ingredients
- 150g flour
- 100g brown sugar
- 85g butter
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 45g sugar
Instructions
You can easily make a streusel topping. Here’s how:
Step 1. Make Streusel Topping
Mix all the ingredients in an empty bowl, and then slowly stir the mix with a fork. Once the flour is blended with the rest of the mix, and you can see clumps, stop stirring.
Step 2. Decorate Banana Bread
Before you put the banana bread into the oven, pour the streusel topping on top of it, and you’re good to go!
Final Thoughts
Turns out, it doesn’t take much to bring a banana bread to a new level of tastiness. Even adding chocolate chips on top of it will make a huge difference.
Hopefully, one of the above-listed decoration ideas will appeal to your taste buds. Now, what are you waiting for? It’s banana bread time!
Sarah is the founder of Baking Kneads, LLC, a blog sharing guides, tips, and recipes for those learning how to bake. Growing up as the daughter of a baker, she spent much of her childhood learning the basics in a local bakery.