Yes, I do mean banana cake, not banana bread. I’ve lost count of how many banana bread recipes I’ve tried over the years, only to be disappointed with the outcome of a dry, tasteless loaf.
My mum has never made banana bread. She’s always made banana cake. She makes it Victoria Sponge-style with buttercream in the middle and it’s always amazing. So I finally asked her for her recipe. I have no idea where she got this recipe from originally but she’s been making it like this for years so I doubt she’d remember if I asked her.
Sometimes I find the addition of buttercream makes this cake a bit too sweet but I’ve used this recipe several times in lots of different sized and shaped tins and it’s been perfect every time (obviously adjusting the cooking time).
Mum splits the mixture into two round cake tins and bakes it for 20-30 minutes at gas mark 4. For this recipe, I’ve used a loaf tin. Like I said, it doesn’t really matter which tin you use as long as you adjust the cooking time accordingly. You’ll need much longer with a loaf tin because the heat has to reach the middle but if you just keep checking on it and sticking a knife in the middle of it, once the knife comes out clean, you’ll be fine to take it out. In the mean time, if the top is getting too brown, just cover it with tin foil and pop it back in.
Banana cake recipe
You will need:
Cowboy bowl: Cath Kidston | Gruffalo bowl: c/o Flamingo Gifts | Hungry Caterpillar bowl: JoJo Maman Bebe
- 4oz (approx 113g) unsalted butter
- 4oz (approx 113g) sugar (I’ve used caster but might play around with other sugars next time)
- 7oz (approx 198g) self-raising flour
- 2 level teaspoons of baking powder
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons of milk
- 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
- 2 really ripe bananas (the riper they are, the sweeter they are)
Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until creamy
2. Add the egg and mix
3. Add the self-raising flour, baking powder, milk & bicarbonate of soda
4. Mash the bananas with a fork in a bowl
5. Add the bananas to the rest of the ingredients and mix
6. Line a loaf tin (which I only just learnt how to do properly after years of baking thanks to this video!) and add the mixture
7. I have to admit that I didn’t keep track of the actual time it was in the oven but that’s probably for the best as everyone’s oven is different and will cook at different times. I left it in for 20 minutes and then checked on it but it was still wobbly so I gave it another 10 minutes but the knife came out with cake mix on it. It was getting a bit too brown on top by this point so I stuck some tin foil over the top of it and checked on it every 5 minutes after that until the knife came out clean. So it was probably around 40-45 minutes in total.
Gruffalo plate: c/o Flamingo Gifts | Gruffalo cutlery: c/o Flamingo Gifts
It smelt so good when it came out that I totally forgot to take a picture of it cooked whole as I was so eager to get a slice out of it! Once you’ve eaten as much as you want, if there’s any left, make sure you stick it in a tin to keep it nice. I can’t really advise on how long it will last in the tin as it never makes it past 2 days in my house!
Magpie cake tins: c/o Flamingo Gifts
