I'm always on the lookout for different types of desserts to try out, in ongoing efforts (61 years' worth) to please my husband's taste buds. Mine too, of course. And sometimes they don't quite mesh. As, for example, baking with bananas. We both love bananas, eat at least one daily at breakfast time alongside our morning citrus fruit. But putting bananas into baked products has never appealed to me.

Yesterday was an exception. I came across an interesting-looking recipe for Coconut Banana Bread and asked my husband if he'd like me to try it out. Of course, he was enthusiastic about the prospect; he never tires telling me how much he likes banana muffins (which I never bake) or cake with banana in it (ditto), causing me often to think he's hallucinating.

In the morning I had another look at the recipe, for Friday's dessert. Here's the ingredients list and methodology:

• 1-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut, divided
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. sea salt
• 1/2 cup extra virgin coconut oil, melted
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup mashed very ripe bananas, 3 - 4
• 1/2 cup full-fat coconut milk
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 ripe banana sliced into 1/4-inch rounds

1. Heat oven to 350F. Grease 9 X 5-inch loaf pan, Line the bottom and the two long sides with parchment paper.
2. Whisk together flour, 3/4 cup coconut, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. Beat the coconut oil and sugars until well combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Beat in bananas, coconut milk and vanilla
4. Add flour mixture to banana mixture and mix until just combined. Scrape into the prepared pan and top with remaining 1/4 cup coconut and banana slices.
5. Bake for 70 to 90 minutes until a toothpick is inserted into the centre and comes out with moist crumbs.
6. Let sit in the pan for ten minutes, then remove and cool on a rack.
7. Wrap and let age for one day for the flavours to ripen.

Got that? I hate using baking soda in baked products; it leaves a soapy aftertaste I detest. Coconut milk use gives us upset stomachs. I used dark brown sugar because that's what I prefer. We use coconut oil externally, as a body lubricant and rub; never cook with it. Three to four bananas and then another one sliced seemed fairly excessive to me. Baking anything other than cheesecake or fruitcake for that length of time let alone at a steady 350F degrees seemed like a sure-fire pathway to ruination.

So, I substituted baking powder for baking soda, used Becel margarine instead of the coconut oil, mashed one very large banana for the cake, omitted the coconut milk and instead used one quarter cup of plain yogurt. I'd never sift flour, salt and a rising agent with shredded coconut; the coconut should be added after the flour has been added to the wet mixture.  And I baked the resulting batter in a cake-form baking pan for 40 minutes at 325F.

Instead of topping the batter before baking with coconut and banana slices I prepared a streusel topping with 1/4 cup flour, tsp.cinnamon, tablespoon brown sugar, 1/4 cup margarine and 1/2 cup shredded coconut worked into a crumbly mixture with the use of a pastry blender.

The finished product was fine. My husband liked it. I liked the streusel topping, crisply dark-brown and crunchy. It was a good enough accompaniment to our meal of chicken breast in tomato-ginger sauce, potato pudding and roasted cauliflower.