Banana Bread

Final research and content collection, Lydia Park

The Recipe

Vegan Banana Bread or Muffins

A vegan banana bread that works equally well baked as muffins. Overripe bananas do most of the sweetening, and coconut oil stands in for butter, so the loaf stays moist without any dairy.

At a Glance

Ingredients

Equipment

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a loaf pan, or line a muffin tin with paper liners.
  2. Peel the bananas and mash them with a fork, leaving some chunky pieces for texture. Place the mashed bananas in a bowl with both sugars and whip together with a hand mixer on medium speed until frothy, about 2 to 3 minutes.
  3. Add the almond milk, oil, and vanilla. Mix until combined.
  4. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix by hand until just combined. Do not over-mix, or the bread will be tough.
  5. For muffins, pour the batter into paper muffin liners. An ice cream scoop keeps each muffin about the same size. Bake at 350°F for 30 to 40 minutes, until a toothpick poked into the center muffin comes out clean.
  6. For bread, pour the batter into a greased loaf pan. Bake at 350°F for 50 minutes to 1 hour.
  7. Let the bread or muffins cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then lift them out to finish cooling before slicing.

If the muffins or bread are browning too quickly, turn the oven down to 325°F and tent the pan with foil.

Planning Ahead

To serve bread at 7pm, start by 5:25pm: about 15 minutes to prep, up to an hour to bake, and about 20 minutes to cool. For muffins, start by 5:55pm. The oven can preheat while you mix the batter.

Serving and Storage

Serve warm or at room temperature. Keep leftovers wrapped or in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or freeze slices for up to 3 months.

Adapted from Banana Bread and Banana Muffins, Reducetarian Foundation.

Sample Imagery

Reference images for the direction I want to take. These are placeholders for the type of photography I plan to use, not final assets.

A sliced banana bread loaf on a wooden cutting board against a pale background
Hero shot of the finished loaf, warm light and a plain background.
Overhead view of banana bread ingredients arranged on a wooden counter: ripe bananas, flour, walnuts, chocolate, eggs and measuring spoons
Ingredients laid out flat, to anchor the ingredient list.
Batter being poured into a metal loaf pan, with bananas and a striped kitchen towel beside it
Process shot for a single step of the method.
Three banana muffins on burlap beside a banana and a glass of milk
Detail shot showing texture and crumb.

Still to Collect

Research Evaluation

Research evaluation document

Recipe Site References

Sally's Baking Addiction

sallysbakingaddiction.com

The typeface is soft and rounded, which keeps a long recipe feeling approachable instead of technical. Body copy is set large with generous line spacing, so the steps stay readable at arm's length while you are actually baking. It is a good reference for how type alone can set the tone of a page.

Simply Recipes

simplyrecipes.com

Each step is paired with its own photograph, so you can check your progress against the picture rather than re-reading the text. The images are cropped consistently, which makes the sequence easy to follow from one step to the next. This is the clearest model I found for pacing imagery alongside instructions.

RecipeTin Eats

recipetineats.com

Everything sits left-aligned in a single clear text column, so the eye always knows where the next line begins. Ingredients and method follow a predictable order, with images placed only where they clarify a step. A good example of structure carrying the page without much decoration.

Design Inspiration

Graza

graza.co

The product itself supplies the visual identity. The bottle, the green, and the illustration style all read as one system. Interaction states are playful and obvious, which makes browsing feel active rather than passive. I want to borrow the idea of letting the subject of the page determine the palette.

Still

drinkstill.nz

Motion and interaction are the primary way information gets revealed, rather than a static page you scroll past. The pacing makes a simple product feel considered and deliberate. Worth referencing for how transitions can direct attention through a page.

Flora Wellness Cafe

florawellnesscafe.com

The visual system is strong and consistent, with a hand-drawn, sketched quality that matches the character of the cafe itself. Because the same hand shows up across type, illustration, and layout, the whole site reads as one voice. That kind of cohesion is what I want for the recipe page.