Banana Loaf

It's not very often I bake from scratch, however when I do there's a 95% chance it'll be something sweet - one look at my Green & Black's Chocolate Cookie baking session is enough to warrant a filling!  However for this Bank Holiday weekend, I figured I'd step away from the chocolate and share a recipe with ingredients more likely to already be in the cupboards - banana loaf.  Armed with a recipe from BBC Good Food online, I began mashing bananas at the end of the day as the sun slowly disappeared behind the trees...

Having first tried Banana Loaf while on a Champneys retreat this time last year, it seemed like a lovely springtime snack to attempt after twelve months of nostalgia.  The recipe I've followed is BBC Good Food's Brilliant Banana Loaf -  an incredibly popular recipe that takes about an hour in total, including preparation and baking (I found a longer baking time was needed).  This version doesn't share the health spa's main goal of healthy eating, and rather places more emphasis on creating a tasty treat - meeting somewhere between banana bread and a sponge... which suits me just fine!

• 140g butter
  
  

  
  

  
  
  

  
  , softened, plus extra for the tin
• 140g caster sugar
• 2 large egg, beaten
• 140g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
  
  

  
  

  
  
  

  
• 2 very ripe banana
  
  

  
  

  
  
  

  
  , mashed
• 50g icing sugar
• 

The most appealing aspect of baking a loaf/sponge is undoubtedly the easy-slice shareable quality, however in the case of this recipe, that is pipped to the post by its purpose of using up overripe bananas.  You know, the ones you bought last week and vowed to eat, only to spend the last seven days reaching past them to get to the Snickers.  I have to admit, I didn't much enjoy the process of mashing the overripe bananas - it turns out I have a weaker stomach than I'd realised! However, the end result was more than worth it; the texture was light at first bite, but dense to chew (great!) and the loaf undoubtedly reignited my love for bananas - in cake form, that is.

For the finishing touch, I kept things simple by drizzling icing over the loaf.  Though, if that doesn't get your stomach rumbling, try dried banana slices, melted chocolate, nuts or perhaps even assorted chocolate chips.  Speaking of which, I may well give chocolate and banana cake a go soon. Mmm...

With love,

Gabrielle x