trotski and ash banana bread
29 Oct 2018
When I bought my bunch of manky bananas a few weeks ago, there were quite a few in the bunch. Even after I'd made the banana crumble cake I was left with a cup of mashed banana which I placed in the freezer. I decided to use the bananas to make this banana bread filled to the brim with dates and pecans.
The recipe called for sour cream which I can't tolerate so I used Greek yoghurt instead and some double cream I found lurking in the fridge. When it came time to lick the beaters, the batter tasted really good.
I wanted to decorate the cake but I decided icing would be overkill, so I topped the cake with some sliced banana.
The cake being so full of dates and nuts took a little longer to bake than suggested. My cake was in the oven for 1 and 1/2 hours and it made my flat smell so good.
Here's the recipe for you which makes a large loaf cake. For all my recipes I use a 250 ml cup, a 20 ml tablespoon, unsalted butter and 60g eggs. My oven is a conventional gas oven so if your oven is fan forced you may need to reduce the oven temperature by 20°C.
Trotski and Ash Banana Bread
Ingredients
200g (1⅓ cups) self-raising flour
½ tsp bicarbonate soda
Pinch salt
125g unsalted butter, softened
⅔ cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup of mashed banana
2 eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup plain yoghurt or sour cream
⅔ cup dates, chopped
½ cup toasted pecans, coarsely chopped
1 extra banana sliced horizontally into 2
Method
Preheat oven to 180ºC. Grease and line the base and sides of a loaf tin with baking paper.
Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl and set to one side. In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and the mashed banana, then when mixed add the beaten eggs. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the yoghurt then add the nuts and dates. Mix well.
Pour into the prepared loaf tin and decorate the cake with the banana slices. Bake for 1½ hours or until the cake tests cooked when a skewer is inserted. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for 10 minutes before removing the cake from the tin. When completely cool, remove the paper lining and store in an airtight tin.
I took the cake into work and it had disappeared by lunch time which is always a good sign. Thankfully I'd put a small piece aside so I could taste the finished product which was very moist thanks to the banana, cream and dates. I topped my slice with a scrape of cream cheese and it was delicious.
See you all again next week with some more baking from my kitchen.
Bye for now,
Jillian