Jamana bread

Homemade jam + rotting bananas = jammy banana bread. Or as I've decided to call it, jamana bread.

It's nothing ground breaking, just a basic banana bread recipe with a few dollops of strawberry jam swirled through the batter before baking, but tasty nonetheless. 

I used Mary Berry's banana bread recipe from her Baking Bible (previously blogged here) as it's a firm favourite for versatility. I've made countless variations over the years but I think this is the first time I've added jam. I just wish I had left it to bake another couple of minutes in the oven as it's marginally under baked. It was difficult to judge whether the stickiness on the skewer was unbaked cake batter or a pocket of jam!

Adventures with rhubarb part 3: a failed loaf cake

Well this is embarrassing. After declaring in my last post that the only thing I was decent at baking was cake, here I am with a dud.

I suspected there was far too much fruit/liquid going into the cake batter as I was making it, but trusted the recipe anyway.

I should have trusted my gut. This is one soggy cake.

It reminded me of the time I baked this raspberry and apple cake (shockingly, 11 years ago?!) It was definitely fully baked, but sank into a stodgy heap whilst cooling due to excessive moisture from the fruit.

It's a shame as this is actually a nicely flavoured cake, I might even heat it up with custard to see if that saves it. If I were to bake it again I'd only add a couple of spoonfuls of the stewed rhubarb. Actually, it wouldn't be dissimilar from this almond and rhubarb cake I've made previously.

I won't bother writing out the recipe, which came from The Hummingbird Bakery's Cake Days book, as I feel the almond cake I linked to above is a better almond and rhubarb cake recipe.

Ah well. You live and learn. I'm moving onto rhubarb chutney next.

cinnamon sour cream loaf

Festive baking is in full swing on blogs at the moment and here I am posting a cake I made almost two months ago. Oh well.

However, I think this could easily be considered a festive bake since cinnamon is a warm, seasonal flavour. Just display the cake with a different tablecloth. 😄

Fun fact: I've had this fun, floral tablecloth since my first year at art school in Edinburgh (shockingly, over 10 years ago now.) My Mum found it in a second hand/vintage shop in the Grassmarket and it's by Mary Quant! 

Although the flavour of the cake was great I was disappointed by the texture. I wouldn't necessarily describe it as dense but it did have quite a tight crumb. I'm unsure whether this is correct for the recipe or if I was at fault. The mixture split slightly after I added the second egg so I likely lost some air in the batter when I combined everything. The raw cake batter tasted AMAZING though, so it may be worth trying again sometime.

The cinnamon-spiced cream cheese is also worthy of capital letters as it's FANTASTIC! Oh my, so good. Not necessarily a complaint, but the recipe produced rather a lot of icing. I'd say more than necessary for this size of loaf and you can see from my photos that I put on a good, thick layer. I used about half the quantity for this cake and the rest was used a few days later on a banana bread.

I also found the quantity of cinnamon sugar in the recipe somewhat excessive. However, it keeps well in a sealed container and it has added some festive flair to my morning porridge.

So is anybody actually prepared for Christmas because I'm certainly not. I've only bought two presents and have organised zero baking or handmade gifts which is unheard of for me. I've also only watched about three corny Christmas films so far. Disaster. I've been so wrapped up with trying to finish renovating my house that Christmas hasn't really entered my head. In the past few weeks the heating has been installed, floors have been laid, doors have been hung, all walls, ceilings and woodwork have been painted and curtain poles have gone up. Just the plumbing and rewiring to finish and the kitchen units to install. It's close!

Cinnamon sour cream loaf
Recipe from Primrose Bakery "Everyday" book by Martha Swift  

for the cake:
165g self-raising flour
1 1/2tsp ground cinnamon
150g softened butter, slightly salted
180g golden caster sugar
2 eggs, large
1/2 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
120ml sour cream

cinnamon cream cheese icing:
50g butter, softened
100g cream cheese
225g icing sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

cinnamon sugar:
1 tbsp golden caster sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4/180c/fan 160c and line a 900g loaf tin with greaseproof paper. In a large bowl sift together the flour and cinnamon, stir together and set aside. In another bowl, beat together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the first egg and beat well before adding the second egg and the vanilla extract. Mix again. Add half of the flour mixture and mix on a slow speed until everything is combined, then add half of the sour cream and mix until just combined. Repeat the previous step so all the flour and sour cream is incorporated. 

Pour the mixture into the lined tin and spread out evenly. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a skewer/knife inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow the cake to cool in the tin for 10-15 minutes before turning out onto a cooling rack.

For the icing, put all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix until well combined. I start by mixing with a spoon before swapping to an electric mixer as it helps to minimise the icing sugar dust cloud. Beat the icing for about 1 minute until smooth. For the cinnamon sugar simply stir together the caster sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Spread the icing on top of the cooled sponge and sprinkle the cinnamon sponge on top.

Banana, date, honey and walnut cake

Hands up if you love banana cake! If you do then you've come to the right place. I love putting borderline mouldy bananas to use.

I came across this banana, date, honey and walnut cake recipe at Jean's blog, Baking In Franglais towards the end of last year and immediately bookmarked it. The combination of banana and dates really appealed to me and I also loved the idea of pouring warm honey on top of the cake fresh from the oven, like a drizzle cake.

Although I think I slightly underbaked my cake I can safely say this is one of my favourite banana cakes I've baked in a long time. My mum, who loves dates but proclaims to dislike honey, also thought the cake was utterly delicious. It was particularly tasty warm from the oven as the dates were so soft that they melted in the mouth. I also liked that most of the cake's sweetness came from the honey rather than sugar. You could almost say it's a healthy cake. Maybe. I'm going with it.

This recipe also gave me an opportunity to use the digital scales I received for Christmas. Being able to measure out precisely 80g of sugar was rather exciting.

I'm also very pleased with my new (to me) cake plate. It appears I'm fussy about rectangular cake plates as I have been scouring second hand and charity shops for years and this is the first one I've liked enough to buy. It's plain but has enough detail to be interesting. I love the gentle, frilly edge and I'm always a sucker for yellow roses on china.  Finally I have something pretty to put my loaf cakes on instead of a chopping board!

orange, almond and yoghurt loaf

Baking late at night is a bad idea, but sometimes you really want to have a cake ready for the next day (or for midnight munchies) so you go ahead regardless of tiredness. I was about to spoon the mixture for this cake into the tin when I thought "this is an unusually stiff mix" so I glanced back to the list of ingredients in the recipe. It turns out I had forgotten an egg.

Luckily I was at a stage where I could still add the necessary third egg, not halfway through baking! This is the kind of blunder you see on tv programmes like the Great British Bake Off and shout "YOU IDIOT!" at the contestant. This time I had the privilege of shouting at myself.

My cake turned out lovely, thankfully. It's one of those plain, unassuming cakes but that doesn't mean it's boring or not tasty. Neither the orange or almond is overpowering; they just happily sit together. Perhaps they're balanced by the vanilla extract, which oddly enough isn't mentioned in the recipe title despite being more obvious than the yoghurt.

Anyway, it's one of those fresh flavoured cakes which goes perfectly with an afternoon cup of tea or coffee. It's also rather nice with a light spread of marmalade, if you feel so inclined.

Orange, almond and yoghurt loaf
Recipe from Hummingbird Bakery "Cake Days" book

190g (7oz) unsalted butter, softened
190g (7oz) plain flour
1 tbsp finely grated orange zest (1 whole orange)
190g (7oz) caster sugar
3 large eggs
60g (2oz) ground almonds
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt (optional, I didn't add it as I used salted butter)
 25g (1oz) plain yoghurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
10g (1/3oz) flaked almonds (or a handful, if you don't care about being precise)

Preheat the oven to 170C/ 325F/ Gas 3. Grease and line a 8.5 x 17.5cm (3 1/2" x 7") loaf tin with greaseproof paper.

Beat together the butter, sugar and orange zest in a large bowl with your mixer until soft and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs individually, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything gets incorporated. In a separate bowl combine the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and salt. Tip this into the other mixture in two batches and mix on a slower speed on your mixer until just incorporated. Add the yoghurt and vanilla and mix until everything is combined.

Pour the batter into the loaf tin and scatter the flaked almonds on top before baking in the oven (on the middle shelf) for 50 - 60 minutes until golden, firm on top and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. I think my cake took 10 minutes longer to bake, so keep an eye on it depending on how quick your oven cooks as you don't want an overbaked, dry cake (or a sad, underbaked one!)

Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning out and transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. 

orange and passion fruit loaf

Finally, I've baked something. It's been a while. One of my friends mentioned that she had baked an orange and passion fruit cake last week and the flavour combination stuck in my mind. I then remembered that I've had Edd Kimber's orange and passion fruit cake recipe from his first book "The Boy Who Bakes" bookmarked for the last 4 years. Now I can remove that bookmark!

I'm a bit sad that my cake sank. It was one of those "ooh it looks ready" - timer goes off - open the oven door - gently prod the cake to check it's cooked - cake wobbles in an underbaked fashion - close the oven door - cake slowly collapses - "noooooo!" moments.

What the cake lacks in presentation it more than makes up for in flavour. I had forgotten how much I loved passion fruit. It's such a sunshiney, happy flavour and pairs very well with sweet, tangy orange. A refreshing cake to eat in gloomy, winter weather! The passion fruit seeds in the icing glaze also lend a welcome bit of crunch to the cake.

Needless to say this cake didn't hang around for long. I'd better put my pinny on and bake something else! 

Orange and passion fruit loaf

225g softened butter/margarine

255g caster sugar (30g reserved for making a syrup)

4 eggs, large

225g plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

zest of 2 large oranges

juice of 1 orange (you get to eat the other orange, yay!) 

passion fruit glaze:
3 passion fruits
125g icing sugar (I added a bit more to reach the consistency I wanted)

Preheat the oven to 180C/ 160C Fan/ Gas 4. Grease and line a 23 x 10cm loaf tin with greaseproof paper. Sift together the flour and baking powder into a large bowl, give it a stir and set aside. In a separate bowl beat together the orange zest, butter and 225g of the sugar  for 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Alternate adding the eggs and 3 tablespoons of orange juice a little at a time, beating well between each addition, until everything is mixed evenly. Fold in the flour. Once everything is fully incorporated pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin. Bake for 50 - 55 minutes (at least an hour in my case) until risen, golden, firm to touch and a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.

In the last few minutes before the cake comes out the oven make an orange syrup using the remaining juice from the orange and the 30g of sugar set aside earlier. Place in a small saucepan and leave to simmer for a few minutes until the sugar has dissolved. 

Pierce holes into the top of the cake with a skewer and pour/brush the warm syrup on top, allowing it to soak into the cake. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

Once cool, finish the cake with the passion fruit glaze. To make the glaze, cut open the passion fruits, scoop out the seeds and pulp and press through a sieve. Reserve one tablespoon of the seeds. Add the icing sugar and reserved seeds to the passionfruit juice and mix until smooth and a good pouring consistency. 

almond and banana bread

Sometimes I feel like the only thing I bake is banana bread. Perhaps I should start eating bananas before they get to that ugly stage so I can bake other things.

It was the usual situation of having stuff to use up: 3 small rotting bananas, a 100g lump of marzipan left over from my carrot and coconut battenberg cake and 2 nearly empty packets of ground and flaked almonds. My banana bread was destined to be heavily almond flavoured.

For whatever reason this cake seemed to take ages to bake. It looked cooked on top just after an hour but felt decidedly gloopy when I stuck a skewer in the middle. I think it ended up being in the oven for about 1hr 30 minutes. I'm wondering whether the grated marzipan affected the bake.

It all turned out pretty good in the end though. A lovely, crunchy crust with a soft crumb. Almond and banana are both strong flavours but I think they play together happily in this loaf. My only change would be to roll out the marzipan to bake in the middle instead of grating it. I think a squidgy layer of marzipan would have made a lovely texture contrast.

Almond and banana bread
Banana bread recipe adapted from Mary Berry's Baking Bible

100g (4oz) margarine or softened butter
175g (6oz) caster sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp almond essence
2 bananas (I used 3 small)
200g (7oz) self raising flour
25g  (1oz) ground almonds
1 level tsp baking powder
2 tbsp milk
100g block of marzipan, grated
a handful of flaked almonds to scatter on top

Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan 160C/Gas 4 and line a 2lb loaf tin with baking parchment. Put all the ingredients except the flaked almonds in a large bowls and mix together for about 2 minutes until smooth and well combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and scatter the flaked almonds on top. 

Bake in the middle of the oven for roughly 1 hour 30 minutes until well risen, firm to touch and skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. I would check on the cake after an hour in case it cooks quicker than it did in my oven. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

blueberry and pecan crumble loaf

This cake was so close to not getting photographed. Each time I came back to the cake tin another slice was missing so I thought I'd better take a few snaps before it disappeared completely.

Admittedly I have baked and documented this cake before, but that was surprisingly a long time ago in my first year of blogging so I thought it was worth sharing again. The cake has a lovely soft crumb, bursts of bright purple blueberries and a satisfyingly spiced, crunchy crust. The blueberries all sink to the bottom, regardless of a light flour coating, but it doesn't spoil the cake.

I was having an absent minded moment when I was measuring out the ingredients so I have a feeling I added 25g/1oz too much butter. I was rushing to get the cake in the oven before last week's episode of the Great British Bake Off so I was probably thinking about how much I loved Matt the fireman. It's a good job I had a freshly baked cake after that episode as I was very sad about the outcome.

The cake took far longer to bake than the 50-60 minutes stated in the recipe but I see I had exactly the same experience the last time I baked this cake.  It easily needed another 20 minutes.

Not much else to add, other than that it's a relatively quick, easy cake to bake and the addition of cinnamon and crumble gives it a comforting autumnal quality. I bet it would be good with custard. Mmmm, custard. Custard on everything.

Recipe from Hummingbird Bakery "Cake Days" book, first blogged here.

banana and coffee loaf

I have three confessions to make:

1. I hate coffee.

2. This is the first time I've baked using a flavour I dislike.

3. I underbaked the cake. Waaaaaah!!! :(

This cake had so much potential, I'm gutted it didn't work out. It rose well, felt firm to touch and the skewer inserted into the centre came out clean so I thought the cake was full cooked, but clearly it wasn't. It's so sad witnessing a cake deflate.

I am definitely at fault though, not the recipe, as I had enough batter left over from the loaf to bake a jumbo muffin and it turned out beautifully. It was well risen, had a lovely soft crumb and even I, the coffee hater, thought it tasted pretty good. Did I think to photograph the muffin? Erm... no.

The sweetness from the banana and honey balanced the bitterness which I dislike in coffee. I didn't think the banana loaf was spoiled by the addition of coffee, whereas I do think a mocha is a ruined hot chocolate!

My Mum, who I made the cake for, loved the flavour. She's been subtly suggesting banana and coffee as a cake flavour combination for ages so was delighted that I finally made it, even though it was a bit of a flop. She especially loved the fudgy coffee icing. It's like the fudgy chocolate icing my Granny used to make, but the cocoa powder is replaced with coffee granules.

Mum and I discovered that the soggy cake could (sort of) be rescued by cooking slices of it in the microwave for a couple of minutes. The icing turns into a sticky sauce which seeps into the cake, making it more like a pudding. A sticky coffee pudding!

I'll definitely try this recipe again, but will pay more attention to the baking times. I was (finally!) watching the last film in the Twilight franchise whilst baking this cake, so I'm blaming my poor results on the dismal acting. On the upside, Michael Sheen is fantastic so it's worth watching for him alone. I almost wet myself laughing at his reaction to the half human half vampire child. Comedy gold: https://youtu.be/i7kT0qiv78s

Coffee and banana loaf

Recipe slightly adapted from Laura's mini bundt recipe at I'd Much Rather Bake Than... 

cake:

9 tbsp (135ml) sunflower oil
100g runny honey
75g light brown muscovado sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 tbsp (90ml) milk mixed with 3 heaped tsp coffee granules
3 large eggs
3 bananas, mashed
330g self raising flour
1 tsp baking powder

coffee icing (this makes quite a lot so you could reduce quantities):
75g butter
3 heaped dessert spoonfuls of milk mixed with 3 heaped tsp coffee granules
350g icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan 160C/Gas 4 and grease and line a 900g/2lb loaf tin. Put the oil, honey, sugar, vanilla, milky coffee, eggs and banana in a large bowl. Sift in the flour and baking powder and mix for about a minute until everything is well combined. Pour the mixture in the tin until about 2/3 full. The mixture will be quite runny and there will be enough left over batter for a big muffin or a few cupcakes (just remember they will only take about 20-30 minutes to bake as they're smaller.)

Bake the loaf in the centre of the oven for at least an hour (don't take it out at 50-55 minutes like me!!) until well risen, firm to touch and a skewer inserted into the centre of the oven comes out clean. Don't watch Twilight whilst baking. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

For the icing, melt the butter with the coffee milk in the microwave (or in a pan on the hob.) Add the icing sugar and mix together until smooth, cool and thickened. Pour over the cake and leave to set.

tropical banana bread

This has been declared my best banana loaf to date by my parents. High praise indeed, especially since I was merely trying to find a way to use up the rest of my pineapple not-quite-a-curd from the previous week. 

I've been favouring Mary Berry's plain banana loaf recipe for most of my banana bread variations this year. It's like the victoria sponge recipe of banana breads - ridiculously versatile. It also only leaves one bowl to wash at the end which gets a massive thumbs up from me. Hurray for laziness.

This cake has such a lovely soft, juicy crumb with a hint of added texture from the desiccated coconut as it's in the cake batter as well as the icing.

The icing is oh so luscious and smooth. Pineapple curd tastes so much better in cream cheese icing than ordinary butter icing. I loved the subtle, fruity flavour against the tangy cream cheese. It paired beautifully with the soft, spiced banana bread. Banana, coconut and pineapple most certainly create a summery dream team flavour combination.

It's a pity the weather isn't feeling more tropical or summery though. It's the end of June, why is it still cold?!

Tropical banana bread

Recipe adapted from Mary Berry's Baking Bible. I had 3 bananas to use up so I increased the ingredient amounts by half. It produced a huge loaf and a couple of muffins!

150g softened butter/margarine

260g soft light brown sugar

3 large eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1tsp ground cinnamon

3 bananas

325g self raising flour

25g desiccated coconut (plus extra to decorate)

1 level tsp baking powder

2 tbsp pineapple curd

1 tbsp milk

pineapple curd cream cheese icing

I wish I wrote down what I did at the time. I think it was this:

50g softened butter

75g cream cheese icing

125-150g icing sugar

1 tbsp pineapple curd

Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan 160C/Gas 4 and line a 2lb loaf tin with baking parchment. Put all the ingredients in a large bowls and mix together for about 2 minutes until smooth and well combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin. Pour any excess mixture into muffin cases and bake them for half the time.

Bake the loaf in the middle of the oven for roughly 1 hour until well risen, firm to touch and skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

For the icing, mix everything together until smooth. This makes quite a slack mixture (the curd was pretty runny) so feel free to add more icing sugar if you want it firmer. Spread the icing on top of the cooled cake and decorate with some toasted desiccated coconut.

banoffee loaf cake

Mary Berry's plain banana loaf has become my favourite banana loaf recipe to play around with, whether it's chucking in extra ingredients or slathering on a different icing. This time I decided to add a soft set fudge/toffee icing to create a banoffee flavour and mmmmmm, it's good.

My cake certainly won't win any beauty contests (take note, the icing really does set as soon as you pour it onto the cake, don't try to spread it) but it most definitely tastes delicious. Loaf cakes are meant to look a bit more rustic anyway...

I really don't know what else to say, other than I'm tempted to make more of the fudge icing just to eat by itself. That's probably not the best idea though when I have a dentist appointment in 2 weeks. Don't want to rot my teeth completely before then. I'm fairly sure I need at least one filling as it is!

Banoffee loaf cake

Loaf recipe from Mary Berry. Icing recipe from Primrose Bakery.

loaf:

100g (4oz) softened butter/margarine

175g (6oz) golden caster sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 bananas

225g (8oz) self-raising flour

1 level tsp baking powder

2 tbsp milk

icing:
45g unsalted butter
4 and 1/2 tbsp semi-skimmed milk
165g light, soft brown sugar
180g icing sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp good quality vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan 160C/Gas 4 and line a 2lb loaf tin with baking parchment. Put all the ingredients except the chocolate chips in a large bowls and mix together for about 2 minutes until smooth and well combined. Stir in the chocolate chips before pouring the mixture into the prepared loaf tin. 

Bake in the middle of the oven for roughly 1 hour until well risen, firm to touch and skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

For the icing, combine the butter, milk and brown sugar in a heavy based saucepan on the hob over a high heat. Stirring continuously, bring the mixture to a boil. Allow it to boil for 1 minute, then remove from the heat and stir in half of the icing sugar. Allow the mixture to cool slightly, then add the rest of the icing sugar and vanilla extract and stir until it thickens to the desired consistency. Pour over the cake and leave to set. If it sets too quickly in the pan you can always soften it up by putting it back on the hob over a low heat.

chocolate chip banana bread and homemade Nutella

A few nights ago I dreamt that Mary Berry asked me to find a Scrabble board. I didn't question her, after all she is a baking legend and has as much authority as the Queen. I dutifully drove to my house, found the box and drove back to give it to her. She was delighted and gave me a massive hug.

I have no idea what any of that signifies, but I took it as a sign to bake something from Mary Berry's Baking Bible. Looking at the sad bananas on the kitchen counter I knew it had to be banana bread, which is basically a big, comforting hug for your tummy.

This is my favourite type of recipe: throw everything in a bowl, mix for 2 minutes, pour it into a tin, done. My only addition was a bag of milk chocolate chips as I'm a sucker for banana and chocolate combinations. There's no other flavourings in the batter to interfere, just banana and milk chocolate joy.

Ok, now I'm going to address what you actually came here for..... I made my own chocolate and hazelnut spread. From scratch! Boom. Like A Boss. Totes Amazeballs. *Insert other hip lingo I feel too uncool/ashamed to use*

Admittedly it's grittier than Nutella, probably because my tiny blender isn't good enough to blitz the hazelnuts any finer. I would say it's closer in texture to peanut butter spread.

This is when I have to admit that I actually hate peanut butter with a passion. Sorry. I think it's a combination of the gritty, stick-to-the-roof-of-your-mouth texture with the salty, oil-iness. Bleugh. However I like the flavour of this spread, it's hazelnut and chocolate after all, so I'm willing to overlook the peanut butter-type texture. The grittiness is less of an issue when the spread is warmed up (it sets once it's cool) which is how I enjoyed it with my banana bread.

If you love peanut butter I doubt any of this will be an issue though.

Other than the boring task of rubbing off the roasted hazelnut skins it's an easy spread to make so go ahead and make some for yourself! Slather it on some toast, warm banana bread or just shove it straight in your mouth. All good options.

Chocolate chip banana bread
Recipe (barely) adapted from Mary Berry's Baking Bible. Previously baked here.

100g (4oz) softened butter/margarine
175g (6oz) golden caster sugar
2 large eggs
3 small bananas, mashed
225g (8oz) self raising flour
1 level tsp baking powder
2 tbsp milk
100g milk chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 180C/Fan 160C/Gas 4 and line a 2lb loaf tin with baking parchment. Put all the ingredients except the chocolate chips in a large bowls and mix together for about 2 minutes until smooth and well combined. Stir in the chocolate chips before pouring the mixture into the prepared loaf tin. 

Bake in the middle of the oven for roughly 1 hour until well risen, firm to touch and skewer inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

For the homemade Nutella I followed this recipe from Not Quite Nigella using Green and Black's milk chocolate. I also halved the quantities to suit what I had. My only suggestion would be to take care when adding the salt. I didn't think I added much but I could definitely taste it, possibly too much! 

browned butter berry banana bread

Well that was fun alliteration. Let's say it again. Browned butter berry banana bread!

There's 50g of white chocolate chips in there too but mentioning that in the title would have spoiled my fun.

This is actually the second time within a week I've baked this loaf and my last bake before these was also banana based. The warmer weather has sent me on a banana baking loop! Within a day or two of buying bananas they seem to turn brown. Not that I'm complaining, I like banana loaf.

For a slight change I decided to brown the butter for this loaf as I love the flavour of browned butter in blondies and figured it would work well in a banana loaf. Sadly I didn't detect much of a difference in flavour, probably because there was enough extra flavour with the berries, cinnamon and vanilla, but occasionally you'd get a little hint of the sweet, biscuity flavour from the browned butter.

I love how banana bread is so simple and easily adaptable. You can substitute and/or chuck in extras to your heart's content. Victoria sponges are fantastic for similar reasons. I nearly didn't bother posting this cake as I have posted a couple of variations of the same recipe already, but the vibrant berries bursting from the cake's surface were too enticing not to photograph. It's also good to remind people not to chuck out dodgy looking bananas. Look at what you can produce with them!

Browned butter berry banana bread

Recipe adapted from Hummingbird Bakery's banana loaf

250g brown sugar (I used half soft light brown sugar, half light muscovado brown sugar)

2 large eggs

2 large brown bananas, weighing roughly 250g

300g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

140g unsalted butter, melted and browned

50g (ish) white chocolate chips (optional! They were lurking in my baking cupboard)

150g mixed berries (I used frozen)

Preheat the oven to 170C/160 Fan/Gas 3 and line a 25 x 12cm loaf tin. Melt the butter in a saucepan and gently cook for about 5 minutes until the white solids turn golden and the butter starts to smell biscuity and sweet. Set aside to cool before adding to the cake mixture.

Whisk together the sugar and eggs for a minute or two until well incorporated and lighter in colour. Add the mashed bananas and vanilla bean paste and mix again. In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and cinnamon then add to the sugar mixture. Mix thoroughly. Pour in the (cooled) melted butter and mix until everything is fully combined. Lightly coat the berries in a small amount flour and stir half of them into the mixture along with the white chocolate drops. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin, level the surface and scatter the remaining berries on top. 

Bake in the centre of the oven for roughly 1hr 15 minutes, checking on the cake after an hour. As the surface was quite brown I lay a piece of baking parchment on top to stop it burning for the last 15 minutes of baking. The loaf is cooked when firm to touch and a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning out to finish cooling on a wire cooling rack.

almond and apricot banana bread

I think this might just be my favourite banana bread. A big statement to throw around, but I really think it is.

Sometimes the tastiest things are made from leftovers and that's the case here. I had some left over dried apricots and blanched almonds from making the Christmas cake and two incredibly brown bananas sitting on the worktop so I decided to throw them together in a loaf.

The loaf has a good balance of flavours and textures: soft crumb, warm spices, juicy apricots and crunchy almonds. It's definitely a cake I want to bake again.

Almond and apricot banana bread

Recipe adapted from Hummingbird Bakery's banana bread

250g soft light brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 large very ripe bananas, about 225g in weight

280g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

140g butter/margarine (I used Vitalite to keep the cake dairy free)

75g mixture of chopped apricots and chopped blanched almonds (although I may add more next time)

25g ground almonds

a handful of flaked almonds to scatter on top

Preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3 and grease and line a 23 x 13cm loaf tin with greaseproof paper. Beat together the sugar and eggs until well incorporated. Mash up the bananas and beat them into the sugar/egg mixture. Add the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, ground almonds and spices and mix thoroughly. Melt the butter and beat it into the mixture until everything is combined. Stir in the chopped almonds and apricot pieces. Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and scatter with a handful of flaked almonds. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for roughly 1 hour until firm to touch and a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 5-10 minutes before turning out to finish cooling on a wire rack.

banana strawberry yoghurt loaf

This was a "I need to use stuff up before they go completely out of date" loaf. A bit of an experiment so not completely successful.

This loaf was delicious fresh from the oven. Although I don't think the strawberry flavour in the yoghurt contributed much, the roasted strawberries on the top were delicious. Roasting strawberries most definitely enhances their sweet flavour (believe the hype folks!) and they made what's usually a plain banana loaf look very pretty.

However the loaf went really soggy the following day. I'm pretty sure it was cool before I closed it in a tin, but it went really sticky and heavy in texture (too much moisture from the yoghurt and strawberries perhaps?)

I also seem to struggle with yoghurt in cakes. I can pretty much guarantee that whenever I use it, it makes my cake sink about half an hour after coming out the oven, despite knowing that my cake is fully baked. Is it to do with the heavier texture they create? I have no idea. Oddly, this doesn't seem to happen when I use it in muffins.

Banana strawberry yoghurt loaf

Adapted from this recipe I used last year.

120ml sunflower oil

225g light muscovado sugar

3.5 (ish) medium eggs (I didn't have 3 large eggs)

225g self raising flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 brown bananas

125ml tub of strawberry yoghurt

50-75g strawberries, sliced finely and given a light coating in flour.

Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4 and grease and line a 900g loaf tin. Pour the oil into a large bowl, add the sugar and whisk for a few minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking as you go, then stir in the flour and mixed spice. Peel and mash the bananas in a separate bowl and add them to the mixture along with the yoghurt. Mix well with a spoon and pour half of the mixture into the prepared tin. Arrange a layer of strawberry slices on top and pour the rest of the mixture on top. Arrange the remaining strawberry slices into a pretty pattern on top before baking on the middle shelf of the oven

Bake for roughly 1 hour until well risen and golden (or check by sticking a skewer/knife into the centre of the cake. The cake is ready if the skewer comes out clean). Leave in the tin to cool then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Earl grey tea loaf

There's something a bit old fashioned about a tea loaf so it only seemed appropriate to photograph it with my 1940s Berylware crockery.

This loaf is a great way of using up questionable looking dried fruit as soaking them in the tea plumps them up beautifully. Nobody would know that they are quite possibly past their sell by date.

 

The fruit bursts with orange flavour in this very citrussy flavoured loaf although I think the star of this bake is the syrup topping. It's like a sticky, sweet marmalade. The zingy-ness of it contrasts well the heavier texture of the loaf.

I like to think that this is a healthy bake because of the amount of fruit it contains: dried cranberries, sultanas, raisins, orange and lemon. That's your 5-a-day covered! It's also dairy free.

My only slight niggle is the amount tea flavour. Although Earl Grey is a citrus tea (a black tea blended with the flavour of bergamot oranges) I felt its distinctive flavour didn't quite come through with this loaf (for me anyway) despite the overall flavour being very orangey. If I made this again I would perhaps brew the tea a little longer before adding to the dried fruit.

And that's the end of my mini tea series, hope you enjoyed it! A massive thank you to the folks at Whittards for giving me a lovely tea selection to bake with.

I'm also entering this bake into Kat's Sweet Leftovers Link Party as my dried fruit was on the brink of being thrown out.

Earl grey tea loaf

I came across multiple variations of this Jamie Oliver recipe online. I don't know what the exact recipe is, but this is what I did:

4 earl grey teabags (courtesy of Whittards)

100g dried cranberries

200g sultanas

100g raisins

1 orange, zest and juice

1 duck egg

200g golden caster sugar

400g self-raising flour

1 level tsp. mixed spice

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ginger

1 lemon, zest and juice

100g caster sugar

200ml water

2 earl grey tea bags

Pour 300ml of boiling water over 4 teabags in a jug. Leave to brew for 5 minutes then remove the teabags. Put all your dried fruit and orange zest in a bowl and pour in the brewed tea. Stir, cover with clingfilm and leave overnight (or if you're a night time baker like me, leave them to soak all day.)

Preheat the oven to Gas 4 and line a 1l loaf tin. Beat the egg in a separate bowl before adding to the soaked fruit. Then add the sugar, flour, spices and orange juice. Mix well and put into the tin. Bake in the centre of the oven for 1hr 10 minutes or until golden on top and a skewer/knife is clean when inserted into the centre of the loaf. Mine actually took about 1hr 30 minutes to cook, covering the top with baking parchment for the last 15-20 minutes to prevent it from burning. Start making the syrup in the last 5-10 minutes of the loaf baking.

For the syrup topping, place 2 teabags in a saucepan with the water, lemon juice and zest. Gently bring to the boil, removing the teabags after a couple of minutes. Add the sugar and bring back to the boil without stirring. On a medium heat let it boil steadily for 5-10 minutes until the mixture has reduced by half and is syrupy. Prick the cake and pour/brush the syrup on top of the cake and leave the loaf to cool in the tin.

Disclaimer: I was sent tea products to bake with as Whittards recognised that I'm a cake/biscuit obsessed crazy tea lady. They're a brand I enjoy and have purchased from before. I was not paid for this post and all opinions expressed are my own.