Tuesday 12 October 2010

Banana Cake

Bananas are a divisive fruit in my family. My Mum and I like them, my Dad and my sister don’t. When my sister was little, my Dad told her bananas were horrible and so she’s grown up not liking it. Be careful what you tell 3 year olds! Even at school, bananas get strong reactions. They seem to be like Marmite: you either love them or hate them. For this reason, we don’t have bananas much at home. With only two ‘eaters’ it seems a bit excessive to buy lots even before we get to the idea of baking with them. But, with my Mum’s friends coming round and my Dad away (and therefore unable to moan about the bananas) – an exception was made.DSCF7878 This banana cake is sort of a jazzed up banana bread – the addition of some dried fruit and bright glace cherries makes it a little more luxurious than a bread. This cake also has a sweet honey glaze, giving your kitchen a bit of shine on a dull October afternoon. The recipe is an old favourite of my Mums, and is easy to make up. The key factor with this cake is really careful baking: my oven is quite hot and so after only 1hour out of the 1.5hours specified the cake was already slightly overdone. I’d start at 50 minutes and check it accordingly – as when it is still moist and slightly sticky. If I were to bake it again, I might use slightly riper bananas and up the sultana content to give it a punch more flavour :) DSCF7884Banana Cake (makes one 9x5x2inch loaf )
Ingredients: 225g (8oz) self raising flour
1tsp salt
100g (4oz) butter, cubed
175g (6oz) caster sugar
100g (4oz) sultanas/dried berries
100g (4oz) glace cherries, halved
2 large eggs
500g ripe bananas
50g honey (optional)

  1. Preheat the oven to 180’C/350’F/Gas Mark 4 and line your loaf tin with a strip of parchment paper.
  2. Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Add the butter and rub into the flour until crumbly/pea-sized pieces. Add the sugar, sultanas/dried fruit and cherries and create a hollow in the centre of the mixture.
  3. Crack the eggs into the hollow. In a separate bowl, mash the bananas with a fork, or whizz in a food processor, until fairly smooth. Add the banana to the flour hollow.
  4. Fold the mixture all together into a smooth cake mix, and pour into the prepared tin.
  5. Bake in the centre of the oven for 50mins, then check. The top should be golden and a skewer should come out mainly clean (provided you didn’t go through a sultana). It may need up to 1hour15mins, depending on your oven.
  6. Melt your honey in a small bowl. Using a pastry brush, spread over the top of the cooled cake. Cut generous slices!DSCF7871

11 comments:

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

I like bananas when they are not black and still green, but I love them in breads. Yours looks wonderful.

Cheers,

Rosa

Dewi said...

Your banana cake looks magnificent Lucy. Love it that you added some sultanas and glazed cherries.

Danielle said...

I mostly only like bananas in sweets. Eating them plain is just.. plain. Your cake looks great! I've never really thought of adding any dried berries to it but it looks great with it!

La Table De Nana said...

I love the additions..for color and taste~

Dimah said...

Great recipe, It looks delicious!

Faith said...

Your Banana Cake is gorgeous with all the goodies in it! It's the perfect treat with a cup of tea I bet!

Anonymous said...

Love the addition of candied fruit, much better than a cream cheese topping.

Anna said...

Yummmm, now I'm totally craving banana cake. Looks delicious. specially with the honey topping.

Pity said...

bananas are great anytime, your cake looks divine, well done, keep it up!

Unknown said...

banana cake is next on my 'must bake' list :) lovely blog hun!

The Caked Crusader said...

Your post made me smile as I have the same issue - if I make something banana (which I love) I have to make something else to please the haters!
Your loaf looks great