a brace of banana cakes

Using up: bananas

We had a lot of bananas, so I decided to make some banana cake.  And then I realised we had even more bananas than that, so I thought I’d make two, and freeze one.  Better than letting the bananas go to waste, I thought.

So I duly made two - it really is no more work than making one, except you have to peel more bananas.  And as I took them out of the oven (they smelled heavenly) I thought of my new next door neighbour, who has had about as bad a year as one can have.  So when they’d cooled a little, I wrapped one in a tea towel, and took it round for her and her two boys (she has a baby daughter too, but she might be a bit small for banana cake!)

Recipe (for one cake):

4oz butter or margarine
8oz self raising flour
6oz golden caster sugar, plus a little more if you like
2 eggs
1 generous tsp vanilla extract
2 medium, or 3 small bananas

Peel the bananas, and mash them with a fork.  An old plate is best for this, I find.

Cream butter and sugar together till fluffy, then add the eggs and vanilla extract.  Add the banana gloop and stir in.  Add the flour and stir in.  This is the most ridiculously easy cake recipe I ever saw!

Put into a greased* 2lb loaf tin.  Sprinkle, if you like, with some golden caster sugar, to give a nice glaze.

Bake for 40 minutes at gas 4, then turn the oven down to gas 2 for 30 minutes.

It probably does freeze well, but I can’t say for sure, as I gave away the spare :)

*I always use the precut liners from Lakeland - I’m a lousy baker, so I like every little bit of help going.

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black bananas

I have a number of ways of using up old bananas - these are my usual suspects:

• grown-up banana bread (by Nigella)
• banana muffins with sunflower seeds - a staunch favourite, and the batter freezes well
• banana and bran flake muffins - newly discovered, and meaning I now keep bran flakes in the larder!

I’ve spotted a delicious looking recipe for banana and oat pancakes on Mel Bedggood’s blog (recommended reading), which I shall be adding to my list.  Looks like an excellent candidate for Sunday breakfast this week!

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banana and bran muffins

Who stole the muffin?

We always have a surfeit of bananas here - Riverford deliver them regularly, and I’m not a big fan.  We generally make banana bread or banana muffins, and I found a new recipe on the back of the bran flake box that I tried out yesterday for breakfast.

I suspect they would have risen better had I not left the egg out, but they tasted gorgeous, although they were too sweet.  I cut the sugar down from 225g to 200g, but I think I’ll try with less next time - far too much of a sugar rush for us

Makes 12 muffins

100g softened butter
200g demerara sugar
1 medium egg
3 bananas, peeled
150g natural yoghurt
225g plain flour
2 tsps baking powder
50g bran flakes
3-4 tbsp milk

Cream the butter and sugar in the food processor.

Add the rest of the ingredients, and blitz.

Divid mixture into a muffin tray (I use a silicon one), and bake for 25 minutes at gas 5, 375F/190C

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got a banana?

Spotted on Lakeland’s site today, is a banana transporter.

Transport your mid-morning snack to work or school
without it looking as if it’s gone five rounds in a boxing ring!

Why can’t you just transport it *in its skin*? And what if your banana is not the shape of this contraption.

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