Pecan and Banana Bread

Whipped up a quick Pecan and Banana Bread when I was stranded at home due to the snow! You can't go wrong with a warm Banana bread and the pecans were just an added bonus.

Ingredients:

125g self raising flour

65g caster sugar

65g light brown sugar

125g butter

2 eggs

2 ripe bananas

50g pecans

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line a loaf tin with baking paper or grease with butter.

2. Cream together the sugars and the butter until light and fluffy.

3. Stir in one egg before adding half the flour. Repeat.

4. Mash up the bananas in a seperate bowl before stirring into the cake mixutre.

5. Chop up the pecans into small pieces and fold into the mixture, saving some for the top.

6. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin, before sprinkling on your remaining pecans.

7. Bake for around 30-40 minutes, or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.

I'll be back tomorrow with a Christmas related post which I used as a procrastination for revision! So, I'll leave you with a photo of my back garden in the snow...

 

Banoffee Cake Pie!

Okay, so it's really called 'Banoffee Cake' but somehow 'Banoffee Cake Pie' just rolls off my tongue. And it sort of makes sense! Being that Banoffee is usually a pie filling... Try saying it, I'm sure you'll agree! Anyhow, my friend's 20th birthday was last week and he loves bananas. I think he has an addiction. So I knew it had to be some sort of cake that included bananas. But I didn't want to just do a plain old banana bread, so the next thing that sprang to mind was 'Banoffee Pie' so I thought surely there must be some sort of Banoffee Cake and after a quick google,  there was!

Now, as you can see from their picture I excluded the marshmallows. Not because I have anything against them, just I was on a budget so cut out all the unnecessary bits. Also, somehow in theirs they managed to cut their cake into three layers. Along with a number of people who commented on the recipe, mine didn't rise enough to cut it into three layers so I just cut it in half. To be honest, it would have been one beast of a cake if it was three!

 For the filling I just whipped some double cream and then chopped some ripe bananas into it before slathering onto the cake. I then used a can of caramel (I am too scared to try and make my own!) and spread that on top of the cream.

 For the topping I just used more of the caramel but not a lot because I was worried about the cake being too sickly!

 It wasn't the most pretty cake but it tasted good and the birthday boy liked it - the most important thing!

 Be sure to check back next week where I make Dinosaur cake!

Banana and Chocolate Marble Cake.

The last time I made Marble Cake it turned out to be pretty dry. Was it my recipe, my oven or just cooked too long, who knows? We still ate it, but with some custard so it wasn't a complete disaster!

My friend requested a Marble Cake for movie night so I knew I had to adapt the recipe to make sure that it was moist. And what cake is always moist? Banana bread of course! So, a Banana and Chocolate Marble Cake it was.

 

  

Banana and Chocolate Marble Cake (serves 8)

 125g butter
125g caster sugar
125g self-raising flour
2 medium eggs
2 slightly mushy bananas
5-10g of cocoa powder

 

1. Cream butter and sugar together.
2. Add one egg and about half the flour, stirring until fully incorporated. Repeat with the other egg and remaining flour.
3. Peel and break the bananas into rough pieces. Place in bowl and then mash with a fork until more of a liquid consitency.
4. Place around a third of the cake mixture into a seperate bowl and add the cocoa powder. Mix until combined.
5. Add the bananas to the plain cake mixture and combine.
6. Grease and flour two 20cm cake tins.
7. Dollop alternative spoonfuls of the banana and chocolate cake mixture between the pans and then, using the handle of a spoon or a skewer, swirl around to create the marble effect.
8. Place in a preheated oven of around 180 degrees celsius for around 25-30 minutes. Remove when either the sponge bounces when pressed or when a skewer comes out clean.

You could always do this in a loaf tin but I wanted to make to cake with filling and all. I used my usual vanilla frosting recipe from Hummingbird to sandwich this together as it isn't too sickly and again, just adds some moisture.

Wondering what happened to the dinosaur biscuits I said I'd make a couple of weeks back? Here's a sneak preview!

Check back next week for the full post!

Banana Bread.

Banana bread is a firm favourite with my friends. It's pretty easy to whip up in less than 5 minutes and the plate is always empty before the cake gets cold!

We had some bananas lying around so me and my brother did some banana bread this afternoon. He mashed the bananas while I made the cake batter. There are numerous recipes for banana bread but my favourite is just normal cake mix plus mushed banana. Same recipe as posted earlier, 4oz butter, 4oz sugar, 4oz self raising flour and 2 eggs. Peel the bananas, quarter them and then go at them with a fork until it's a gloopy mixture. Combine the two and cook in the oven at 180 degrees for about 40 minutes or when a knife is inserted it comes out clean.

Here it was just out of the oven,


After it collapsed a little (boo!) I tipped it out onto a plate. It's always nice when a cake comes clean out!