Banana, Almond & Maple Syrup Cake

Banana, Almond & Maple Syrup Loaf Cake

It's not often that there are bananas at JibberJabber Towers which would make themselves fit as one of the ingredients to this recipe as my son is the original monkey boy when it comes to eating them. However, a weekend away and I cam back to the horrors of all horrors – blackened and overripe bananas. I say horror as the smell and even the thought of overripe makes me feel all sorts of things which should not be described on a cookery blog. My Nan used to have a Jamaican friend who told her that bananas are best eaten when they have black spots on them. Nan said that as Harry came from where they grew bananas he should know best. My senses remain to this day unconvinced.

The 'horror' of overripe bananas

This recipe is one I have adapted from a Be-Ro book. I made it first last year and found a major fault in it as it asked for the nuts and fruit to be put on top at the start of the baking process. I was a bit unsure when I read the instructions and my instincts were right – the top was completely crozzled. The original recipe called for different sugar, nuts and fruit. I didn't have any of these in stock and since this is designed to use up ingredients that otherwise would be thrown out I didn't go out and buy them but instead substituted with what I had at home. My almonds were whole but I put them in a bag and gave them a whack with a rolling pin to turn them into 'chopped'.

As the cake uses maple syrup I am putting this forward for this month's Feel Good Food at Victoria's A Kick At The Pantry Door.

Equipment: 1 2lb/900g loaf tin, greased and lined or use loaf liners.

Ingredients

8oz (225g) Self-raising flour

¼ tsp (1.25ml) Bicarbonate of Soda

3oz (85g) Unsalted butter, softened or baking spread

4oz (110g) Demerara sugar

2 Large eggs

3 Large ripe bananas, mashed

3oz (85g) Almonds, chopped

2 tbsp (30ml) Maple syrup

Topping

½oz (14g) Flaked almonds

½oz (14g) Sultanas

1 tbsp (15ml) + 1tsp (5ml) Maple syrup

Method

1. Grease and line a 2lb (900g) loaf tin

2. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/Gas mark 4.

3. In a large bowl mix together the flour and bicarbonate of soda.

4. In a separate bowl cream together the butter and sugar.

5. Add the eggs one at a time and beat them in. Add a little of the flour if required.

6. Add the remaining flour, bananas, almonds and maple syrup. Stir until all the ingredients are well combined.

7. Pour into the prepared tin and cook for 45 minutes.

8. After 45 minutes check the loaf to see if the top is cooking too quickly. Cover with greaseproof paper if it is.

9. Mix together the flaked almonds and sultanas with the 1 tbsp (15ml) of maple syrup. Spoon over the top of the cake.

10. Drizzle over the remaining 1 tsp (5ml) of maple syrup, cover again and cook for a further 15 minutes.

11. Leave for 5-10 minutes in the tin before taking out and leaving to cool completely on a wire rack.

Rhubarb, Lemon & Ginger Friands

Rhubarb, lemon & ginger friands

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the tidy-up we had in our garden and one of the things I was looking forward to was the rhubarb growing so all the family could enjoy it in some tasty treats. All four of us are rhubarb fans and the brilliant thing about rhubarb is that it is so easy to grow. The variety we have is Timperley Early but due to the seemingly constant snow in the past months it hasn't been as early as usual. Despite living in Yorkshire we don't force it but simply let it die down at the end of the season and then wait for it to come back up the next year. That's it. The perfect crop for a lazy gardener.

I've recently acquired 8 mini loaf tins which I have been desperate to use. Therefore I decided to posh up my usual style and make some friands. You can buy special friand tins but these tins have worked just as well. My tins measure 9cm x 6cm around the top and have a depth of 4cm. You can also bake these in muffin cases. If you do use muffin cases or another sort of tin just make sure the mixture doesn't come any further than two-thirds of the way up the sides.

This month's Recipes for Life challenge for the Swallow charity is rhubarb, lemon and spice and since these contain the magical trio I will be submitting them to Vanesther at Bangers & Mash.

With the seasonal rhubarb I will also be sending this to Ren Behan for Simple and in Season. Although, I expect she is probably sick of the sight of rhubarb recipes by now. I'm sorry.

 

My tip for this recipe is don't melt the butter until you need it otherwise it will cool and turn back into its original state. Obviously this was done purely for recipe testing methods...If you are wondering what to do with the leftover 5 egg yolks I make a rich scrambled eggs with mine. Alternatively you could also buy cartons of egg whites in the supermarkets now. I've never tried them but I have heard very good reports about them.

Equipment: 8 friand/little loaf tins or muffin tin lined, electric whisk.

Ingredients

2½ oz (75g) Plain Flour

7oz (200g) Icing sugar

1 tsp (5ml) Ground ginger

4½ oz (125g) Ground almonds

Zest of 1 lemon

5 Egg whites

6oz (175g) unsalted butter, melted

1 stick (about 2oz/50g) Rhubarb, chopped into 1cm pieces.

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 200°C/Gas mark 6.

2. Grease the friand/loaf tins or line a muffin tin with paper cases.

3. In a large bowl sift the flour, icing sugar and ground ginger.

4. Stir in the ground almonds and lemon zest.

5. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until frothy – not stiff peaks!

6. Melt the butter.

7. Fold in the egg whites and butter into the dry ingredients.

8. Spoon the mixture into the tins or cases.

9. Place the rhubarb pieces on top of each friand.

10. Bake for about 20 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.

11. Leave in the tins for about 5 minutes to cool slightly and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.