Fear not! I’m here! I’m back! I’m alive! I’ve been revising for exams and generally just really busy so haven’t had time to do much baking or blogging. It was my mum’s birthday last week and she asked me to bake some cakes for her to take to work. I did a coffee and walnut cake, almond and marmalade loaf, brownies (I’ve done these on my blog before so they are linked back to the pages) and a banana loaf. I’ve done the banana loaf many times. It’s really easy to make and absolutely delicious.
Recipe from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook.
270g soft light brown sugar
2 eggs
200g peeled bananas, mashed
280g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon of ground ginger
140g unsalted butter, melted
a 23 x 13cm loaf tin, greased and dusted with flour.
Preheat the oven to 170°C (325°F( Gas 3.
Put the sugar and eggs in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat until well incorporated. Beat in the mashed bananas.
Add the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and ginger to the sugar mixture. I usually mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl separately first to ensure I don’t end up with clumps of them going straight into the wet. Mix it thoroughly until all the dry ingredients have been incorporated into the egg mixture. Pour in the melted butter and beat until all the ingredients are well mixed.
Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and smooth over with a palette knife. Bake in the preheated oven for about 1 hour, or until firm to the touch and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool slightly in the tin before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely. It can be cut much easier when completely cool.
Enjoy.
