Although described as a loaf, this lovely creation is more of a cake than a bread. When choosing the bananas for this recipe, you want them to be as ripe (or overripe) as possible. This is for 2 reasons: Firstly, the riper the bananas are, the stronger the flavour of the loaf will be. Using unripe bananas will result in a bland tasting loaf. Secondly, overripe bananas are very easily mashed and will not leave those frustrating little lumps in the loaf.
The walnuts add a fantastic crunchy texture to this soft, moist loaf, as do the banana chips that you can use to decorate the banana loaf once it’s out the oven.
When making a fruit loaf like this one, my top tip is to always line your tin with either greaseproof paper loaf tin liners, as this sticky mixture can be an absolute nightmare to get out otherwise. And the last thing you want after making a beautiful sweet treat is to pull it to pieces trying to get it out the tin!
Ingredients
- 3 ripe bananas
- 2 large free range eggs
- 100g softened butter
- 175g caster sugar
- 225g self-raising flour
- 1tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp whole milk
- 40g walnut pieces
- 50g icing sugar
- 20g banana chips
Method
- Firstly, preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius / 350 degrees Fahrenheit / Gas mark 4.
- In a large mixing bowl, mash together the banana and caster sugar. I like doing this with the back of a fork. If your banana is still a bit lumpy, don’t worry, the electric whisk will take care if it in the next step.
- Add the free range eggs and use an electric whisk to combine the mixture. Then add the softened butter and whisk again. Your mixture should be smooth and combined as this stage.
- Sieve the flour and baking powder into the mixture and gentle fold until all the flour has disappeared. Then pour in the milk, followed by the walnut pieces and fold into the mixture.
- Line your loaf tin with greaseproof paper of a loaf liner and pour in your mixture. Add to the oven and cook for around an hour, or until the loaf is a golden brown colour and a skewer inserted into the centre of the loaf comes out clean.
- Cool in the tin for around 10 minutes, then move to a wire rack.
- When the loaf has cooled completely, mix the icing sugar with 2-3 tsp of water, mix together and drizzle over the loaf. Decorate with banana chips.
Hey! This is a little late but I am currently doing homework on foods that are suitable for a pescatraian. I was wondering why this is suitable for that food group.