Today’s recipe is for a delicious and soft whole wheat funfetti banana bread. This banana bread is super soft with the perfect birthday cake flavour that is due to win over even the pickiest of kids!

Banana bread is one of my favourite things to eat for breakfast, I feel like partly just for nostalgia. Growing up in the 90s, I feel like anyone who brought in homemade banana bread for a snack were seen as the luckiest kids. My goal is to be the mom that makes the best banana bread, and my kids still ask for it once they’re grown. Apparently my dreams come from 70s sitcoms mom’s 😆.

This funfetti banana bread is the ultimate banana bread and my kids adore it. I’ve actually started turning it into French toast the last few weeks and my son continues to request it as special French toast. Hard to go wrong with anything that’s got sprinkles!

If you’re interested in a more traditional banana bread, try my chocolate chip banana bread or if you’d like a different funfetti recipe, try my funfetti blondies.

A stack of slices of sprinkle banana bread with the loaf and more sprinkles in the background.

How to Get That Traditional Birthday Cake Flavour

The real trick here, besides adding the sprinkles, is to add a smidge of almond extract along with vanilla extract. This gives the bread that yummy traditional birthday cake flavour.

How to Store Funfetti Bread

When storing quick bread, the first step is to ensure it’s fully cooled. Storing warm bread leads to excess moisture which will ruin the texture and cause it to get gummy and soggy, especially on the top.

As quick bread is generally and hopefully very moist, the easiest way to keep it from getting soggy is to store it with paper towels.

Place a paper towel on the bottom of an airtight container or bag. I like to use an extra large reusable bag. Place the loaf on top and lay an additional paper towel on top. Store it at room temperature for up to 3 days.

A hand laying a slice of funfetti banana bread onto a stack of more slices.

How to Freeze Funfetti Bread

The best thing about all my healthy breads and muffins is they freeze well. They’re an easy thing to whip up and meal prep for the week or month! When freezing quick breads, you’ll again want to ensure it’s completely cooled.

Once cooled, place a paper towel on the bottom of an airtight container or bag. I like to use a freezer safe extra large reusable bag. Cut the bread into slices at your desired thickness and place them in the bag. If you need to stack them, place a small square of paper towel between the slices so they don’t stick together. The paper towel helps to keep the excess moisture away from the slices and helps ensure they don’t get freezer burnt. Store like this for up to 3 months.

When you’re ready to eat one or all of them, let thaw at room temperature for a couple hours or heat in the microwave in 20 second increments. Be cautious if using the microwave when feeding children or toddlers, it can leave hot spots.

A loaf of funfetti banana bread resting on a marble cake board.

Benefits of Whole Wheat vs White Flour

When baking healthier snacks, treats or breakfasts, I’m a big fan of using whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour, also known as white flour. There are many benefits to this including a higher concentration of minerals like copper, magnesium and iron. This is important for me personally as like many women, I’ve had issues with low iron in my life.

There is also a larger source of B vitamins in whole wheat flour which provides energy. Whole wheat flour has a higher protein content as well as more fibre, both of which can keep you feeling full longer. Another great thing about whole wheat flour is it can add a little extra flavour bringing a hint of nuttiness to certain bakes.

The only cons of using whole wheat flour that I know of is sometimes it can make a recipe more dense, which is why I typically add more moisture to my recipes. In doing this, I generally don’t notice that I’m eating a whole wheat flour bread instead of a white flour bread.

The other downside is I know everybody doesn’t keep whole wheat flour on hand. Well, I never used to either and now I can’t imagine not having it in the house. I buy a large 10kg bag for the exact same price as an all purpose bag of flour and have never had it go bad on me. I highly recommend keeping some on hand so you can make guilt free muffins, quick breads or whatever you want! In saying this, if the recipe doesn’t call for it, I don’t recommend swapping whole wheat flour for white flour, they’re generally not a 1 to 1 substitute.

If you’d like more information on the nutritional benefits, head to https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/whole-grains/. There are lots of great sources of nutritional information on the Harvard website that is backed up by multiple sources.

Front view of slices of funfetti banana bread stacked against the rest of the loaf on a marble cake board.

How to Properly Measure Flour

So when it comes to measuring flour, the most accurate and easiest way is to use a kitchen scale. I always use a scale and could never go back to measuring in cups. It’s such a hassle and way more dishes!

If you don’t own a scale, there are a couple steps to properly measure flour as it becomes compacted just sitting in the bag or container. I highly recommend you follow these as just scooping flour out of the bag can potentially lead to at least an additional 1/4 cup of flour. This equals dry and dense baked goods which is not what anybody is going for.

1. Fluff the flour by giving it a mix with a whisk or fork.

2. Spoon the flour into your measuring cup.

3. Level the excess flour off using a butter knife. (With the back of the knife level to the top of the measuring cup, run it over top, pushing the excess flour back into it’s container.)

4. Repeat until you’ve measured the amount the recipe calls for.

Front view of a slice of funfetti banana bread stacked against the rest of the loaf. More sprinkles are around it.

Baking Tips

Don’t overmix the batter! Fold the wet and dry ingredients together until just combined. This ensures a tender crumb rather than a tight, dense bread.
Whenever making any kind of baked good with banana, ensure the bananas are overripe, with brown spots or skin, or they won’t incorporate as well into your recipe. They also won’t bring as much flavour. If you don’t have any bananas at this stage of ripeness, often grocery stores will sell the overripe bananas for this purpose. This to me is a win win as it also helps reduce food waste!
For best results, use room temperature ingredients! They will mix together much easier creating a smoother, more well incorporated batter.
I create my recipes based off weights so I recommend measuring by weights if you own a scale. It’s actually so much easier and makes for much less cleanup. I wish I had baked by weight from the beginning, I could never go back now.

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