Hello one & all (hopefully more than one at any rate!)
To say that this is one of the most popular things I make is an understatement.
It is without fail, devoured, every time I make it. I had a flatmate who once 'banned' me from making it as he could not control the impulse to just eat the entire thing.
This recipe is from the fabulous 'Cook's Companion' by Stephanie Alexander. This is not the cheapest cookery book on the market, but it is really is a lifetime book: it will serve you for the rest of your days.
The way it the book is set out, the information, the recipe's are all fantastic, and I have never had anything from here not turn out.
I really do feel that the trick to this is to have your bananas be beyond ripe. I mean black in the skin. Stinking. Almost rotten but just not quite. This almost rotteness produces an amazing, almost slightly liqueur-esque flavour that creates a wonderful cake.
Something you may not know: Bananas freeze well! Just pop them in, still in their skins. They keep in the freezer for ages, and if you don't have time to make this cake now, you can always make it with the frozen banana's later on.
Stephanie's Easy Banana Cake
1.5 cup caster sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed, very ripe bananas
a few drops of vanilla essence
250g plain flour
1 tsp bi-carb soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground all-spice
1/2 cup buttermilk
(if you've no buttermilk mix 1/2 cup full cream milk w/ 1 tsp lemon juice)
Preheat oven to 180'c; grease & line a loaf tin.
Cream the butter & the sugar together until fluffy. In a separate bowl combine the eggs, banana & vanilla, then add this mix to the butter/sugar.
Sift the dry ingredients together, then add to the above mix in batches, alternating with the buttermilk.
Put into the loaf tin & bake for 50 mins, or until ready (skewer test -> some crumbs, not too many).
Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a rack to cool completely.
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