sweet enough bakes

I do like bananas, but really only when they are a bit green. Mr McGregor doesn’t eat them in their raw state. I always buy them in at least fives, and although I intend to get through them, come the weekend there are sometimes a couple of speckled bananas in the fruit bowl. What to do other than make a banana loaf? Probably the easiest cake ever, since you just mix almost everything together from the start.

Today, left with two very over-ripe bananas, I added some dates that were hiding in the back of the baking cupboard.

Here’s the recipe (you can download a pdf here: Banana and date loaf)

Banana and date loaf

100g softened unsalted butter

50g caster sugar

2 large eggs

2 ripe bananas (the riper the better), mashed

225g self raising flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons of milk (I use skimmed milk but semi-skimmed or full fat would be fine)

100g chopped dates

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Grease a 900g loaf tin and line with baking parchment
2. Measure all ingredients except dates into a mixing bowl and mix thoroughly until fully mixed and smooth
3. Mix in dates
4. Pour into loaf tin and level
5. Bake for 45-50 minutes until golden and risen, and a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean
6. Cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning out to cool fully on a wire rack
7. Enjoy