Saturday, November 08, 2008

Banana Cake II - With Wholegrain Flour and Extra Fruit


I deliberately buy bananas and let them sit and ripen as an excuse to bake a banana cake. I do this so often the children have acquired a Pavlovian response of demanding a cake when they see the fruit lying around.


This is one of three banana cake recipes we enjoy, being moist, ludicrously easy, relatively healthy and so, so banana-rey. As it bakes it gets a slightly crunchy crust, which my children love topped with their favourite cream cheese icing which I present below.
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 stick plus 1 tablespoon butter (125g)
  • 1 1/2 cups brown sugar (white is fine)
  • 1 1/2 cups wholemeal flour, sifted with
  • 1 heaped tsp baking soda and
  • 1 tsp baking powder, plus
  • 1 cup unbleached white flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 4 very ripe, large bananas, mashed with a fork at the last minute
  1. Cream the eggs, butter and sugar together till pale and fluffy
  2. Sift the flour/soda/powder/salt into the butter mixture
  3. Process till well combined, add vanilla
  4. Fold in the mashed bananas
  5. Pour into pre-oiled baking tin
  6. Bake at 175C or 360F for 40 minutes
  7. Ice as desired
Cream cheese icing

In a small processor, add
  • 3 tbsp cream cheese
  • 2 cups icing sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 orange's zest
  • 1 tbsp cream
  • 1/2 stick butter
Blend all the above together till creamy, adding more icing sugar as needed I like to ice the cake while it's warm for a rustic, carelessly thrown-together look. Sprinkle with coconut shavings if desired.

(All text and photos or images are copyright protected. Please do not reprint any stories, recipes or photographs without the author's permission.)

No comments:

ShareThis