SIMPLE & FRUITY BANANA BREAD

Banana bread is one of those easy fall back options when you're craving something sweet and filling but don't have any chocolate. All you need to do is keep a stock of flour, sugar, baking powder & a tin at the back of your cupboard and neglect your bananas.

In case you've never heard of or tried banana bread before, it's definitely in the cake family. I could research into why it's named bread but really who has the time, life needs a dash of mystery and all that. It's also my favourite cake (bar carrot cake) and doesn't need to be refrigerated (mainly because it's always gone within two days). It's best eaten warm, so please don't torture yourself by waiting for it to cool fully before you dig in, and try microwaving subsequent slices for a few seconds because mmmmm.

Method:

Start by heating your oven to 160/180 degrees celsius and buttering your baking tray, unless you have a case like I did (I'd recommend them! There's not much worse than not being able to excavate a cake from a tin).

Chop up two of your (medium/small) bananas and crush with a fork. TIP: if the banana isn't totally ripe, pop it in the microwave for 30-ish seconds to soften! I use a fork because I like there being little chunks throughout, but don't leave too many as you'll add more later. Leave half a banana for extra chunk making.

Mix the softened butter together with the sugar until it's "fluffy" and there are no cheeky lumps of butter left, then mix in the eggs. You can whisk them up before, but to save on washing up I just do it in the bowl. Sieve in half of your flour and stir until fully blended, then add the rest of the flour, baking powder and mushed up bananas, a sprinkle of cinnamon and mix fully.

Chop some of your blackberries into halves and half of the banana into small chunks then stir them lightly into the cake mixture. Personally I don't like the blackberries to colour the mixture, they should be a surprise when you cut the loaf! Then spoon the mixture into the tin and decorate the top with slices of banana. (I've also marbled almond butter into the mixture at this point before which was divine but I didn't have any to hand this time - just a suggestion!)

Pop into the oven and bake for 20 minutes before checking. I find that the top goes brown pretty quickly, so to prevent it from burning I cover it with foil midway through. The loaf is done once a skewer comes out clean, and this usually takes 50 minutes for me, but keep checking as I guess all ovens vary!


And that's it! Sorry there isn't an "after" photo, it doesn't look that impressive until cut and this one was for Jack's leaving do at work so had to stay pure. I hope you liked this post! I'm planning on doing loads of recipe posts this summer so hopefully I'll get better at the format etc :')