banana Archives

Isn’t it great when things just work out? I had some bananas blackening on my windowsill, and the next day some nice person emails me a bunch of Cadbury’s Fairtrade recipes, including this one for chocolate banana bread. Serendipity. I don’t even particularly like bananas, but I seem to be cooking a lot with them lately.

This was lovely – exactly what you’d epxect – but not quite chocolatey enough for me, so I slathered it in chocolate spread (Fairtrade of course). Perhaps I’ll just add more chocolate next time.

Fairtrade Fortnight is 27th February – 11th March. Find out more here.

Chocolate banana bread:

75g Cadbury Dairy Milk Fairtrade milk chocolate

250g self-raising flour

Pinch of salt

1 level teaspoon baking powder

150g Fairtrade caster sugar

100g butter, softened, plus extra to serve

50g walnuts chopped

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

Finely grated zest of 1 Fairtrade orange

475g Fairtrade whole bananas (about 4 small ones), peeled

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Lightly oil and line a loaf tin with parchment paper.

Sift the flour, salt and baking powder into a large bowl. Add the sugar, butter and nuts rub it in until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.

Whisk the eggs, vanilla extract and orange zest in another bowl. Add the Fairtrade bananas and mash. Then melt the Cadbury Dairy Milk Fairtrade milk chocolate and fold it into the banana mixture.

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the banana mixture. Gently but thoroughly bring all the ingredients together with a wooden spoon, then pour into the prepared loaf tin. Smooth the top and bake in the oven for 1- 1 ¼ hours or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Allow to cool for 5 minutes before removing the cake from the tin. Serve sliced and buttered

walnut & banana loaf

I’ve never been a fan of banana. At all. But this year my daughter has developed a voracious appetite for them, which is great that she’s eating foods that I don’t, but on the other side means you occasionally get a few bananas knocking about at the end of their ripey life.

So Mrs Spud made some banana muffins and thy were great. So much so, I’m almost a complete convert to bananas in a dessert now. Still not sold on the fruit in it’s raw state, but baked I am fine with.

Hence a year ago I would never have attempted this, a walnut and banana loaf recipe from Jamie’s Great Britain. Someone in the office said I had to try it, so I did. It’s a fabulous teatime treat, all dark and fudgy, combined with this decadent chocolate orange butter.

Walnut and banana loaf with chocolate orange butter (serves 16 (apparently)):

100g walnut pieces, toasted

125g dark brown sugar

125g soft butter

2 eggs

100g plain flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

5 ripe bananas, peeled and mashed

For the butter:

100g dark chocolate

100g butter

75g icing sugar

Zest of 2 oranges

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Bung the walnuts in the oven for 5 minutes and tip them out to cool.

Cream the butter and sugar together until pale. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then sift in the dry ingredients. Mix to combine into a smooth batter then stir in the walnuts and bananas. Pour into a greased loaf tin and bake for an hour or until a skewer leaves it clean.

While that cooks, prepare the butter by creaming the butter and sugar together. Melt the chocolate gently in the microwave for a minute at a time until smooth. Grate in the orange zest then stir into the butter. Serve the cake in slabs, smeared with chocolate butter.