While it's still in the oven, insert a skewer in the center. If the skewer comes out clean or with just one or two crumbs stuck to the skewer, you're good to go. When you think the bread is ready, insert the thermometer in a straight line through the top center of the bread. Explain it gradually, checking the readings along the way.
You'll see the temperature drop as the probe moves from the bottom to the center, and then rise again when you start removing it. Because banana bread has a texture similar to sliced bananas, you can't use the “toothpick” test to determine if it's finished baking. How can you tell if banana bread is cooked or not? The most reliable way to check if it's cooked is with a thermometer. If the inside temperature of banana bread is between 200°F and 205°F (or 210°F for gluten-free banana bread), you're good to go.
You can also do the famous “toothpick test”. The most recommended way to tell if a cake is cooked is to put a small, thin object, such as a toothpick, cocktail stick, skewer, or even a fork, in the center of the cake. Baked banana bread will have a magnificent golden brown exterior thanks to the natural sugars in bananas that create a caramelized crust. You should make sure that the oven is fully preheated before you start baking the bread, as the instructions in the recipe are based on the banana bread being baked for a specific period of time at a specific temperature.
This is fundamental to the result of banana bread and, if you are sure of the cooking temperature in the oven, you can follow the time recommendations in your recipe. If your cake is a fairly light recipe (sponge type, for example), you can touch the surface of the cake quickly, lightly and gently with your fingertips. Many people follow the times of cake recipes and then take the cake out of the oven at the point where the recipe tells them to. It can be difficult to bake a cake to perfection, especially a cake that cooks for a longer period of time, such as a banana bread cake.
You can insert this heat-sensitive instrument into the cake as you would with a skewer; what you'll be looking for is a reading of approximately 90 degrees C or 195 degrees F, since most bread cakes combined with the probe come out clean. The home for easy and delicious banana bread recipes and a wealth of items to answer all your banana bread baking needs. A few small, light crumbs are fine, but any dough or cake mix, as in the image below, means that the cake is still raw in the center. If your observations through the oven door lead you to believe that the cake might be cooked, you can GENTLY open the oven door and carefully remove the cake (use the appropriate oven gloves, obviously).
