Banana bread is so last year: What we're starting to bake instead, new study suggests

Google searches for banana bread, while still popular, had largely remained stagnant over the past year, according to a new study. (Getty Images)

by: Nexstar Media Wire

Posted: Oct 31, 2021 / 08:44 PM MDT

Updated: Oct 31, 2021 / 08:44 PM MDT

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(NEXSTAR) – A new study of the nation’s most-searched recipes has revealed that banana bread, while still a favorite among America’s amateur bakers, is getting some serious competition from a couple of crumbly, creamy desserts.

The study, conducted by a food-sensitivity testing company called YorkTest, utilized data from millions of Google searches conducted in the United States, both in September 2020 and September 2021. The analysts then determined the top-searched recipes for baked goods and “calculated the difference in monthly searches” to find which recipes were surging in popularity — and which were getting stale.

Banana bread, according to the study, remains the most popular recipe. But searches for “banana bread recipe” on Google — while high in terms of total volume — have stayed stagnant since Sept. 2020.

Searches for “peach cobbler recipe,” however, have more than quadrupled, rising 306.06% since Sept. 2020.

“Like banana bread, a standard peach cobbler also requires ingredients that many people have in their pantry – sugar, flour, cinnamon, kosher salt, and you can even use canned peaches,” posits Kerri Ferraioli, a nutritionist with YorkTest, in a statement included at the website’s blog.

Other popular searches included “pumpkin cheesecake recipe” (which saw 123.97% more interest over Sept. 2020), “apple crumble recipe” (123.76% more interest),“ monkey bread recipe” (82.43% more interest) and “strawberry shortcake recipe” (48.72% more interest). Cherry pie, blueberry muffins, lemon cake, biscotti and shortbread cookies also saw modest increases in interest over 2020.

Sinking closer to the soggy bottom of the list, recipe searches for apple pie, carrot cake and doughnuts saw decreased interest. Pumpkin pie suffered the biggest drop, with 75.41% fewer searches than Sept. 2020.

“While peach cobbler and apple crumble dominate the list, it’s interesting to see the drop in searches for pies and donuts, especially as the weather gets colder,” Ferraioli said. “Will we see people sipping on more peach cobbler lattes than pumpkin spice this fall?”