As the old saying goes, everything gets better with age, unless you are a banana. Old, manky, odious, boggin; these are all words that have punitively crossed people’s lips when being asked to describe the more mature banana. However what I see is something very different, what I see is a fruit in the prime of its life, ripe and ready to go forth and be made in to the most delicious of all tea time treats, the classic banana bread.
In my opinion a classic is a classic and therefore on this occasion I have decided to follow a low fuss recipe by none other than the Queen of Cakes, Lady Mary Berry. I have decided to adapt it slightly by adding a good slathering of salted caramel on the top! (I confess it is not homemade, but I had some leftover Tesco’s finest that needed using up and it seemed a shame not to use it!) This is a delicious accompaniment to a good sit down and a cup of tea.
Prep time: 1 hr 20 mins
Serves: 8
Ingredients:
100g Butter
175g Caster sugar
2 Large eggs
2 Ripe bananas mashed
225g Self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp milk
One jar of Teso’s finest Salted Caramel
Special Equipment: A 2lb loaf tin
Method:
1. Set the oven 160°C/320 F/ Gas Mark 3.
2. Measure out all of your ingredients then chuck them all into a mixing bowl. Mix with a wooden spoon or electric mixer (a wooden spoon would’ve done just fine for this but any excuse to use my Kenwood!)
3. Lined your loaf tin with parchment paper and then pour the mixture into the tin.
4. Bake for 50 minutes to an hour, until the cake is well-risen and golden brown. If you insert a skewer into the centre of the cake it should come out clean.
5. Leave the cake in the tin to cool for a bit, and once cool you can slather the top of the cake in the salted caramel sauce. Delicious!