Banana bread meets classic Bananas Foster in this mouth-watering mashup. Made with caramelized sugar and bananas and a splash of dark rum, it’s a tantalizing twist you’ll simply adore.

While it might look like a normal loaf of banana bread, this loaf features something extra special: a rich caramelized banana base and a glug or two of dark rum.

I am, apparently, in a breakfast-baked-goods sort of mood. I’m not craving cookies or cakes or brownies; no, all I’ve wanted to bake these last few weeks are muffins, coffee cakes, and, obviously banana bread.

Clearly I’m not alone in this last craving… as evidenced by the fact that Instagram is basically 32% banana bread these days.

I can’t quite explain it. Maybe it’s the fact that none of us can get to the store as often to replenish our fresh bananas, so when we do get out, we buy two bunches instead of one, without quite realizing that, no matter how green they were when we bought them, we can’t feasibly eat two bunches before they start to get spotty.

That’s actually good news, though, because, when it comes to banana bread, the spottier the bananas, the better. In fact, I’d argue that yellow bananas with black spots aren’t quite ripe enough—rather, the bananas should be the opposite: black with yellow spots—that’s when you know they’re perfect for banana bread.

Pro tip: if you find yourself with more than 2 or 3 spotty bananas at once, they freeze beautifully. Just peel, place in a labeled zip-top bag, and freeze for up to 6 months. And next time the banana bread (or banana muffins or banana cake) craving hits, all you need to do is let them defrost for about an hour or so, until they are soft (but not runny; drain of any excess liquid if there is any), and then mash them into your favorite banana bread recipe (which, if I have anything to do with it, will be this one).

So what makes this banana bread different from every other recipe out there?

Caramelizing together the brown sugar, butter, and banana beforehand gives this banana bread and extra special depth of flavor, and superb moistness that lasts for days. While you might not notice a difference just tasting it, I’m sure if you compared it to a loaf made in the standard way, you’d definitely notice a difference.

The process does take a bit longer than your standard banana bread, since the caramel mixture needs time to cool otherwise it’d scramble the eggs on contact (I don’t think I need to tell you that that would be no bueno). It’s not any harder than basic banana bread as any extra time involved is entirely inactive (is it a coincidence that 45 minutes is the exact length of an episode of Outlander? I think not.)

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