🍌Banana Cake

Yes, there are a gazillion banana cake recipes on the internet. I have no idea why it's often called banana 'bread'. Maybe it tricks people into thinking this is health food? I’m not even going to try and claim there’s anything particularly different or special about this one. 😆 I’ve been waiting for an opportunity to use the banana emoji.

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• 🥘 Ingredients
• 🔪 Instructions
• 📖 Recipe
• 🍏Other Simple Fruity Bakes

I like this banana cake recipe because it *kind of* healthy – lots of banana, not too much sugar. Let's say that banana is a given, the other ingredients are very adaptable. You can use a bit of one thing and some of another. You can use any type of flour – I’ve used gluten-free, strong (bread) flour, white or wholemeal. You can use any type of sweetener – brown or white sugar, honey, maple syrup. You can vary the fat – butter, olive oil, coconut oil. The recipe below is the way I make it the most.

I’ve reduced the sugar compared to many recipes out there. If you use super-ripe bananas for this, they add a lot of sweetness. Some recipes call for creaming the butter and sugar. I don’t feel like this is necessary for this dense, moist cake; we’re not trying to achieve light and fluffy here.

A low oven temperature helps prevent a crust. Banana cake should be moist and soft all the way through.

However you make it, banana cake improves with time. Try and remember to bake it a day ahead.

🥘 Ingredients

Butter – substitute with a vegetable oil (including olive oil) or coconut oil.

Wholemeal Flour – wheat or gluten-free. Or white.

Oat Bran – adds a nutty flavour and slightly chewy texture. Substitute with wheat bran or with the same weight of your choice of flour.

Soft Dark Brown Sugar - adds rich flavour, deeper colour and moistness. Substitute with the same amount of white sugar or sweetener of your choice.

Bicarbonate of Soda/Baking Soda – works with the buttermilk (or equivalent) to produce gas, for a lighter texture.

Buttermilk – easily found in the dairy section of most supermarkets. If you don’t have any, you can make your own. Use the same amount of any type of milk mixed with 1 ½ teaspoons of lemon juice or white vinegar. Leave to rest for 5-10 minutes before using. It will curdle slightly (which is what we want).

Bananas – yes, they look disgusting in the photo! They’re very ripe bananas that I have peeled, frozen and defrosted overnight for this recipe. Use fresh ones if you have, but the riper the fruit is, the sweeter the banana bread will end up.

You can leave bananas whole or break into smaller chunks before or after freezing. They’re quite soft even frozen and you’re going to get mashed them for the cake later anyway. Over-ripe bananas are perfect for this recipe – super sweet and soft. Make sure you defrost before using (in a bowl). They’ll look horrible and will release brown juice, but don’t be put off. Include it, flesh and juice (it was all there in the fresh banana, after all). You can use all fresh bananas, all frozen (and defrosted) or a bit of both to make up the total weight of the bananas. Fresh bananas have a little more texture - you can choose to keep some pieces bigger.

🔪 Instructions

Dry Ingredients – simply combine in a large bowl (big enough to take all the ingredients). Flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda, ground cinnamon and nutmeg and salt.

Wet Ingredients – simply combine in another bowl. I melt the butter directly in this (microwave-safe) bowl to save on washing up. Let the butter cool down before you add buttermilk and egg, particularly if these are fridge-cold. The butter will solidify into little lumps otherwise. For this reason, I recommend melting the butter first. Leave it to cool while you get the dry ingredients organised.

Combine!

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry. It’s easier to do this way around. Combine and pour into a prepared loaf tin. I’ve used the bulldog clip to hold the greaseproof paper out of the way while I poured the batter into the tin. I forgot to remove it for the photo 🙄. Don’t put plastic bulldog clips in the oven!

Top with banana slices

Of course, you don’t have to put slices of banana on the top. If you’re using bananas from the freezer, you won’t be able to slice them anyway. It does look pretty though and is a visual clue as to what type of cake this is. Don’t worry if the slices break (it’s quite hard to thinly slice a soft curved banana). If this happens, patch it together on the top of the cake. I find it best to have the two slices ‘spooning’ each other i.e. curving the same way. I’ve found it can look a bit vagina-esque otherwise. Maybe that’s just the way my mind works. Bet you can’t unsee it now. You’re welcome!

Sprinkle and bake

Sprinkling with a little demerara (raw) sugar adds a bit of colour and crunch. Bake for around an hour until a cake tester/skewer come out clean.

If you enjoy quick two-bowl bakes, try my blueberry muffins recipe. Wet ingredients in one bowl, dry in the other, combine and bake. Serves of fruit in sweet bakes makes for a balanced diet, right?

📖 Recipe