- Serves 8 – Ready in 1 hour 20 minutes –
Gather together…
75g butter (quite thinly sliced and warmed for 3 minutes in the heating-up oven until soft, but not fully melted).
50g brown sugar (any type of brown sugar will do).
125g self-raising flour (sieved).
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda (be careful not to add any extra than this or it will taste fizzy - yuck).
½ tsp ground ginger.
½ tsp mixed spice.
1 medium free-range egg (beaten).
3 ripe bananas (2 roughly chopped and 1 sliced finely) – use the finely sliced one to decorate the top.
1 tbsp milk.
100g (handful) of mixed dried fruit / sultanas.
50g (handful) of dark chocolate, broken up into small-ish chunks, 'cooking chocolate' melts far more easily than regular chocolate and is much less likely to shock and split. Sainsbury's own-brand cooking chocolate is sold in foil and card (so is plastic-free), Green & Black's cooking chocolate is plastic-free AND palm oil-free, but is too pricey for me to use regularly.
Get cooking…
1. Pre-heat the oven to 170C (fan 150C) or gas mark 2.
2. Now warm the 75g of sliced butter in the heating-up oven for 3 minutes (set a timer so you don’t forget it!) - use a small, robust ceramic or metal bowl, and be careful when removing the hot bowl. Some of the butter will actually melt (which isn't a disaster), most will still be solid yet soft.
3. Line a 900g loaf tin (9"x5") with a greaseproof paper liner (you can get a reusable loaf tin liner, but it is a bit fiddly to use and your cake will come out rather oddly shaped as the excess material folds in on itself - we happily use one but I thought I'd warn you!).
4. Beat (by hand or in a mixer) the 75g of (very soft) butter and the 50g of brown sugar together for 1 minute, until well combined.
5. Sieve in the 125g of SR flour, the 1/4 tsp of bi-carb and the 1/2 tsp of spices (ginger and mixed spice). Don't mix together yet, wait until the wet ingredients are added.
6. Beat in the egg, the banana chunks (only 2 bananas worth) and the 1 tbsp of milk until smooth (approx. 30 seconds of stirring).
7. Add the 100g of dried fruit and the 50g of chocolate pieces (optional) and give a couple of stirs around the bowl to combine.
8. Spoon the mixture into the lined loaf tin and level the mixture gently with the back of a spoon.
9. Decorate the top with the remaining thin banana slices.
10. Bake for 1 hour. After 30 minutes check that the banana slices on top aren't browning too quickly, if they are then cover with foil for the remaining oven time.
11. Leave the loaf cake to cool for 10 min in tin, then turn onto a wire rack to cool properly – or, better still, start to eat it whilst it is still warm.
I don't know where I found this banana loaf cake recipe originally, but I added in the chocolate - yum!