Easy Banana Cake

[Irene]

I just made this cake again, so I thought that I would share it with you:

 

Easy banana cake

 

 

Ingredients
Serves: 10 

·         125g butter

·         150g caster sugar

·         1 teaspoon vanilla extract

·         1 egg, beaten

·         2 very ripe bananas, mashed

·         190g self-raising flour

·         60ml milk

 

Method

1.     Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin. Melt butter, sugar and vanilla in a saucepan over a medium heat.

2.     Remove from heat and add the mashed bananas, mix well.

3.     Add the egg, mix well.

4.     Stir in the flour and the milk.

5.     Pour into the prepared tin, sprinkle with a tablespoon of demerara sugar to give a crunch topping if liked.

6.     Bake at 170 C / Fan 150 C / Gas 3 for 35 minutes (Please note: this recipe suggests 35 minutes, but in my oven on convection it takes approximately 50 minutes!),  until a skewer comes out clean. 

Leave to cool and enjoy!

[Belatucadrus]

Many moons ago when there were more of us in the house I used to make cakes, only did Banana cake once, not hugely popular largely as dad was the only real banana fan in the family.

[AlanHo]

I like bananas as just a raw fruit - I eat one almost every day. However I don't like them cooked or mixed with ice cream, custard or anything else.

 

We once went to a friend's house for dinner and she served deep fried battered and bread-crumbed fruit with some fancy ice cream. It included banana which I managed to eat (quickly swallow) just to be polite. My wife thought it was lovely.

[Belatucadrus]

The only way my mum likes them is to peel, cut in half length-ways  put in an oven proof dish with some orange juice, brandy and unsalted butter, sprinkle with demerara and bake.

[-pops-]

Like AlanHo, I really dislike cooked bananas.

I remember when they appeared in the shops after the war (WW2). I was quite taken with the different flavour of the fruit and someone told us that if they were baked in the oven, the flavour was even better.

 

Bananas were duly placed in the oven and baked until they turned black (not burned, though). The result was a black squidgy mess that leaked a brown liquid. On peeling this mass there was a disgusting looking brown (no other word for it) turd. Remember that bananas were very rare and expensive then so I tried to eat it to placate my mother and granny. No sooner had it been swallowed, it reappeared.

 

That was the end of my cooked banana experience(s). Even writing this makes me have nausea.

 

Having said all that, though, I quite like raw bananas.

[andsome]

has anyone eaten pink bananas?  They are quite popular in the US.

[AlanHo]

I haven't

[andsome]

1 minute ago, AlanHo said:

I haven't

 

Slightly sweeter than the yellow ones and smaller.

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?source=hp&ei=sbcGWr_9Ic-dsAenoYP4BQ&q=pink+bananas+images&oq=pink+bananas&gs_l=psy-ab.1.6.0l3j0i22i30k1l7.2429.6151.0.14024.12.12.0.0.0.0.149.1347.1j11.12.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..0.12.1342...0i131k1.0.6hSZZyCDu4w

[Belatucadrus]

My understanding of the methodology of the cooked banana is second hand as it's not a fruit I enjoy much, but it would appear that the thing is to cook lightly, bring the sauce up to temperature and melt the sugar, no more. Too long and you turn them to the unappetizing blackened mush -pops- encountered.

[Irene]

The banana in this recipe is well mashed before adding it to the melted butter, sugar and vanilla.  After mixing in the egg, flour and milk, it is more like a batter consistency.  Once cooked, it does contain a light banana flavour, but it's not overwhelming at all.

 

It's simple to prepare and cook and uses up any over ripened fruit. 

I enjoy 'raw' banana, but not when the skin begins to brown - far too sweet for me.

[-pops-]

I'm sure your banana cake is very nice but I am always haunted by the memory of my first experience of a cooked banana which overwhelms any logical thoughts about it.