It has been a busy few weeks in the Little Birdie household. We moved three weeks ago and have been without the Internet until today. Upon moving in, we found the oven in our new house was possibly the worst oven in existence! A horrible, electric thing which took forever to cook anything and if it was cooked the bottom was burnt. Luckily Mr Birdie managed to find us a shiny new one for £50 (thanks to the wonders of Ebay!) My Dad visited us last weekend to help us tackle the garden (thanks Dad!) so I whipped up a banoffee pie last weekend but this cake is the first proper cake I have made in our new home. Hopefully many more baking adventures will follow.
I used to make this cake a lot a few years ago as it is super easy to make and a great way to use up ripe bananas. It doesn't look that amazing from the outside but it's what inside that counts. It is always well received (as proved today by the speed at which is disappeared in the staffroom at school) and it has never failed to produce a moist, banana-ery loaf that surely must be good for you as it contains fruit, nuts and wholemeal flour! The recipe is from Best Ever Baking by Carole Clements.
Ingredients:
115g butter (at room temperature)
115g caster sugar
2 eggs (at room temperature)
115g plain flour
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
55g wholemeal flour
3 large ripe bananas
1tsp vanilla extract
55g walnuts (chopped)
Method:
1) Preheat your oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Line a 9 x 5 in loaf tin with greaseproof paper.
2) With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
3) Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4) Sift the plain flour, bicarbonate of soda, salt and cinnamon over the butter mixture and stir to blend.
5) Stir in the wholemeal flour.
6) With a fork, mash the banana to a purée, then stir into the mixture. Stir in the vanilla and nuts.
7) Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and spread level.
8) Bake until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean (50-60 minutes). Let the cake stand for 10 minutes before transferring to a rack.
Happy baking!
Dil :-)
