Banana loaf or-anyway-you-want-it-cake.

No you don't have to make this as a loaf cake. My mother-in-law makes it in an 8-inch tin and slices it like a round cake.

Something about banana cake tells me it has to be in a loaf, unless there are multiple layers and an abundance of icing!

I promised my Nana that this was the EASIEST banana cake recipe and it has proved so popular with her neighbours, that they bring her old bananas in hope that she'll make it again!

Ingredients:
1 large very ripe banana, although I usually use 2!
5 oz. self raising flour
1 egg
5 oz. Caster sugar
2 oz. butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt

Method:

 

Put oven on - 170'c. 

Mash banana and put aside.

Beat butter and sugar together until smooth and creamy.   Because there isn't enough fat, it sort of forms a solid lump.  Keep going.  I turn the speed down and it becomes smooth.

Add egg and mix in.

Add banana and mix in.

 

In a separate bowl, mix your dry ingredients - flour, bicarb and salt.

 

Fold the dry ingredients into the batter using a METAL spoon.

 

At this point I sometimes add chocolate chips or nuts.

 

Pour into a lined tin.

 

Bake in a loaf tin for 35 mins or 45-50 mins if you add chocolate chips.

 

 

Today I'm experiementing by making smaller loaves in mini tines.  Already the batter is rising over the tin, despite being two thirds full... (The batter does make 6 but 4 fit on this baking tray!)

 

I've baked these for 20 mins so far.  Adding another 5...

 

 

Ta-daaaaah!!

 

 

170'C for 25 mins.  Going to my Aunt's house for lunch tomorrow. 

Can't wait to put these in pretty bags for her!

 

 

 

The mother-in-laws method:

 

"Put everything but the flour and Bicarb. into a liquidizer for 1 minute at low speed.

Pour into bowl and all flour and bicard and mix.

I cook mine more as a cake in a loaf tin at 170'c for 40 minutes or a 7" round tin for 25 mins."

 

 

 

Best chcoclate bundt cake EVER

This is not my recipe.  I found this through the goddess, Joy the Baker.  My friend Rachael made me this cake a couple of years ago and it was the gooey, moist and just a perfect blend of chocolate, cake and a hint of coffee.

It was Father's Day (May this year) and I decided to make the cake for family visiting.  We had 6 of us around the table and I wanted a dessert to finish off the masterpiece of roast pork that Nick was creating.  Perhaps it's like Marmite, where in my opinion most people love Marmite.... Most people LOVED the cake and some said it was a polite good.  I don't care.  It took effort and a bundt pan brought all the way from North Carolina but it was WORTH IT!!

Hints and tips:  It was a wet batter but just go with it.
The glaze was a mess so I wiped up the tray afterwards to make it more presentable.
I didn't have buttermilk and added some melted butter and milk, which I know now was a sin but it still turned out ok.  (I have buttermilk now and plan to make this cake for a friend's birthday dinner party!)

Joy has her glaze drip and just lets it set that way. I couldn't.  I kept adding and adding and filling gaps; letting it set and then adding some more.  I didn't even taste a bit.  Oh ok.  Yes I did.  And it was DIVINE!

The Best Chocolate Bundt Cake with chocolate glaze

makes one 10-inch bundt cake

from The Big Sur Bakery Cookbook (really lovely book)

For the Cake:

1 1/4 cups plus 1 Tablespoon brewed coffee

3/4 cup Dutch process cocoa powder

2 1/4 cups sugar

1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt

2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

2 whole eggs

1 egg yolk

1 1/4 cups plus 1 Tablespoon buttermilk

1 cup plus 2 Tablespoon canola oil

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups, plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour, sifted

 

For the Glaze:

6 ounces unsweetened chocolate

3/4 cup unsalted butter

3 cups powdered sugar

1/2 cup sour cream, at room temperature

1/4 cup brewed coffee, cooled

 

Place an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F.

 

Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan and set aside.

 

To make the cake batter:  Put brewed coffee and cocoa powder in a small saucepan and bring to a boil, whisking frequently.  Remove from the heat and let come to room temperature.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fit with a whisk attachment, mix together sugar, salt, baking soda, eggs and egg yolk on low speed for about 1 minute.  Add the buttermilk, oil and vanilla extract and mix on low again for another minute.

 

Add the flour and mix on medium speed for 2 minutes.  Add the cooled cocoa mixture and mix on medium speed for 3 minutes.  The batter will be very loose.  Pour into the prepared cake pan and bake for 1 hour, or until a cake tester inserted in the cake comes out clean.

 

Let the cake cool completely in the pan and then invert onto a cooling rack.

 

To make the icing:  Chop the chocolate into small pieces, put them in a heatproof bowl (or a double boiler), and set the bowl over a pot of barely simmering water.  Be sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the boiling water.  Remove the bowl from the heat when all of the chocolate bits have melted.

 

Melt the butter in a separate pan or in the microwave.  Whisk the melted butter into the melted chocolate until thoroughly incorporated.  Sift in half of the powdered sugar.  Add the sour cream and whisk to combine.  Sift in the remaining powdered sugar and whisk until smooth.  The glaze should be thick and shiny.  Lastly, add the coffee and whisk to create a glossy glaze.  Pour the glaze over the Bundt cake, covering it completely.  

 

Leave at room temperature until ready to serve.