Banana, walnut & chocolate chip loaf

Well 2013 is nearly at an end. I would like to wish all my readers a very happy new year. 2013 was the year I started writing this blog and I have really enjoyed recording all my baking adventures. I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. I was very lucky to receive a personalised 'Little Birdie Baking Blog' apron from my brother and sister-in-law (thanks Ian and Steph!) as one of my presents. It has already been used to make today's post!

Christmas is a time to catch up with family. Yesterday we went to a gathering of Mr Birdie's family and I of course offered to take a cake along. As usual I had some bananas that were beyond their best so decided to make a banana loaf. Now usually I would opt for my Wholewheat Banana Nut Loaf, which I have featured before but decided I would try something new. After some research I found this Paul Hollywood recipe on the BBC Good Food website. The beauty of this recipe is that it only requires one bowl. Apologies for the photos - I was at home at Devon and only had my mobile phone to take the photos with.

Ingredients:

4 ripe bananas (peeled)
250g caster sugar (I used golden)
2 eggs
140g butter (softened)
2 teaspoons baking powder
100g walnut pieces
100g chocolate chips

Method:
1) Heat oven 190C/170C (Fan)/Gas 5. Line a 900g/2lb load tin with baking parchment.
2) In a large bowl, mash together the bananas and the sugar with the back of a fork.

3) Add the eggs and mix well with an electric hand whisk until fully incorporated, then add the butter for a couple of minutes more to blend everything together (it won't completely blend together but don't worry - it will be fine).

4) Sieve in the flour and baking powder and fold together with a spatula.

5) Then add the walnuts and chocolate chips (I used chunks of chocolate instead as I had a spare bar). Give everything a final mix before tipping into the lined loaf tin.

6) Bake for 1 hour & 5 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean (I personally think Paul is being a little bit ambitious here. Mine took at least 1 1/2 hours! I covered mine over with foil towards the end as I didn't want it to catch too much. What I didn't realise was because I was using my Dad's gas oven instead of my electric one at home is that I should have turned it around so it was browner on one side than the other - oops!)
7) Leave to cool slightly in the tin, then turn out and serve cut into thick slices. Any uneaten cake will keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

8) Enjoy!

Wholewheat Banana Nut Loaf

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 :-)