Sunday 6 October 2013

Banana and Apple Loaf

Dish: Banana and Apple Loaf

Difficulty: Easy

Utensils Used: Grater, peeler, electric whisk, spatula

Cock Ups: A couple...

Recipe Book: Feeding Boys and a Firefighter (my boyfriend is a firefighter, so appropriate!)

Cooking: The Boyfriend was at work today, leaving me on my own all day. I thought I'd make something using the bananas we had that were starting to look a little past their best. I found a recipe for banana and apple loaf. Thinking the Boyfriend would be full of enthusiasm for this venture, I text him and got this response:


I probably didn't help matters by calling it 'bread' instead of 'loaf.' Oops.


Miracle upon miracles, I actually had all the ingredients for this, so no impromptu trip to Morrisons for eggs or anything.



I creamed together 150g of light muscovado sugar and 85g of butter.


Then added in two eggs to the mix.


I mashed up four bananas. One wasn't overripe, but the others were more than enough to give it that really banana-y flavour.


I then went to pick an apple from the tree in our garden.


You don't get fresher than that!


This was then grated into the banana and mixed in.



At this point I measured out some flour, only to realise it was a little.... alive. Checking the best before date was a bit of a shock. But it was okay, I had a back up. This one was unopened. And still out of date. I need to bake more often.


The flour was mixed in with some cinnamon and nutmeg.


I think my loaf tin must be miniature sized, as the mix didn't fit into it. So I got out another cake tin, greased it and put the remaining mix in that, then put both in the oven at 180 degrees to cook for 45 minutes. But I was at least smart enough to realise the shallower cake tin wouldn't take so long, and so did recall to get that out of the oven after about half an hour. Disaster, for once, avoided!

Washing Up Required: A modest amount. A few fiddly bits and bobs like the grater and peeler and the whisks.


Result: Two perfectly cooked cakes that smelled delicious coming out of the oven and slipped nicely out of their baking vessels without cracking or sticking.


Taste Test: Despite the Boyfriend's misgivings about the cake, he did eat a slice. And declared it... banana-y. Well, that was kind of the point.

The family came over to eat some though, as we had two cakes instead of the one, and it went down very well with everyone. Except Dylan who wanted some sweets. Perhaps he remembered the last time I fed him some cake.


Overall Result: This was quick and easy, and an ideal way to use up some bananas that are a bit past it. Hopefully next time I won't also be using flour that's a bit past it...

Banana and Apple Loaf (and cake)


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