I was recently asked by my brother-in-law to make a good banana bread recipe. Being the type of person that I am, I would much rather invent my own recipe than just follow someone else's recipe.(I'm a free spirit, I gotta fly!)
Now, the start of my development process is always lurking. I never post a thread to ask about flavors, because I know that If I read all the threads here for 2 weeks, I'll learn everything I need. In this case, I'd tried making banana bread flavors, but they didn't have the depth I needed. I stumbled upon a thread where a user was discussing banana bread with /u/abdada, and it was mentioned that bourbon flavors go really well with the banana to add a bread flavor. So that's the basis of BBB.
If you have a good amount of experience with flavors, you know that the cleanest over-ripe banana flavor available(non-runt) is TFA's Banana Cream. I made this the main note of my flavor @6%. Next step is to find a suitable bread. My favorite banana bread has a hint of cinnamon in a sweet, moist bread. If you've read my Flavorah tasting notes, you'd know that there is absolutely no other choice for a sweet, cinnamon with grains than FLV Cinnamon Crunch. I added it for some sweet cinnamon @2%. Now, this leaves me with needing a more bread-type flavor, and everyone in this sub knows the hype surrounding INW Biscuit, so I added that @1% for a sweet, soft bread flavor.
The most difficult part of any recipe is deciding your final notes and flavor enhancers. This is something that you only learn from experience. I needed to make a pecan final note for this recipe, so I started with another phenomenal flavor from Flavorah, Peanut Butter. This flavor is too strong to put at normal finishing note percentages, and in this recipe, I found 1 drop/10mL was enough. That gets the basic nut flavor out of the way for pecan. Now I need to add a sweetener, and a bit more spice to make it taste like a cooked pecan. Pecans have a bit of a subdued nut flavor, so to emulate this, I added 2 drops/10mL of FA Almond. For a bit more of that nutty spice, I decided to go all out and add another 2 drops/10mL of FW hazelnut. These three nuts together make a fantastic nut flavor for banana nut bread. I decided to sweeten them up a bit with .5% FLV Butterscotch.
The only ingredient left is the bourbon. I only have TFA Kentucky Bourbon, and at this point I'm tired of working on the recipe, so I try 1%. Shit was so cash.
The final recipe is a sweet, moist banana nut bread with a delightful soft hint of bourbon that plays really well with the cinnamon and banana in this recipe. Give it a try and leave your thoughts in the comments!
Bangin' Bourbon Bread
- 6% TFA Banana Cream
- 2% FLV Cinnamon Crunch
- 1% INW Biscuit
- 2d/10mL FA Almond
- 2d/10mL FW Hazelnut
- 1d/10mL FLV Peanut Butter
- .5% FLV Butterscotch
- 1% TFA Kentucky Bourbon
1d/10mL is roughly .2% for me.
PG/VG preference?
Also in the final recipe did you decide against ½% butterscotch?
No, the butterscotch actually lends a nice caramelly sweetness that I get from the "crust" on a good banana bread.
As for PG/VG, I mix max VG because it's easy, but I'm sure 70/30 would be just as good, but people may need to lower the banana with more PG.
Thanks again for that comment on the bourbon, it really takes this recipe from good to great.
Oh, you didn't put the butterscotch in the final recipe list!
That bourbon nails banana bread but I think it is useful in many banana blends. I might try bourbon and butterscotch with regular banana for a fried plantain eliquid. Yum.
Have you tried FLV's caramel. I'd say 1 drop per20mL. I used it for a similar effect in my apple fritter.
This looks quite tasty, I have been looking at getting into some of the alcohol flavors in my next batch. I've not used FW Hazlenut is it comparable to TFAs?
As an aside have you tried TFA's Banana Bread? I've used it and liked it, but it's the only banana flavor that I have played with, not sure how true to form it is relative to other combos. I don't use it too often because it gives me and my wife horrible congestion if we vape it all day.
As a final note, I've been on a Liquid Amber kick for a while now, this recipe looks like a good candidate for it.
If you want to use liquid amber, I also made a spiced cider recipe that is halfway decent.
As for banana bread, I've never used it, as I prefer to make my own complex flavors. Kind of like making pancakes from scratch or pancakes from a powder mix.
FW Hazelnut IMO is the best hazelnut available. I did plenty of research before I bought it, making sure that it was highly praised by the bigshots of the diy community wayyyy back when I first started.
A spiced cider mix sounds tasty. My current project is revolves around using Black Honey as a clove source with holiday spice as a nutmeg source for an autumn base that I can add to some of my existing recipes. I am an odd duck though.
I kinda figured it would be that way. Like making your own smoothies from scratch versus getting a premixed solution.
I've not tried any FWs flavors yet, I am still relatively new to DIY, only been doing it for about a year now. I've only recently started playing with FA. I started out with TFA tried to stick with just them so I could get an idea.
I'll have to try FWs Hazelnut cause I love TFAs and if theirs is better I can only imagine how tasty it will be.
I will say from my perspective, you are on the big wigs. I've read many of your posts and feel like I've learned quite a bit from you. So thank you for all you have contributed.
I'd love to see that spiced cider recipe. I decided on making an apple cider, the I saw that fizz made one a couple weeks ago, then I saw that everybody is out of hangsen's apple mix. So if it doesn't have apple mix I want to try it.
The peanut butter is FLV? I'm short one damn flavor (Banana cream) but I hope to try this some day. Looks awesome. Thanks a lot for posting it.
I love the look of this recipe but I've never enjoyed cinnamon vapes. Reckon it's worth a try without the cinnamon?
The cinnamon isn't noticeable.
The updated recipe is a very good recipe. That's all I have to add. Thanks for it!