Banana Loaf

This is a delicious recipe from the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook, (their recipes never fail to impress me!) I'd say it's more of an autumn/winter bread as it does contain some spice but not so much that's it's off putting. I'm not a big cinnamon fan although I don't mind it in this recipe, so the spices aren't overpowering.

Ingredients

270g soft light brown sugar
2 eggs
200g peeled bananas, mashed
280g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
140g unsalted butter, melted

a 23 x 13cm loaf tin, greased and dusted with flour (I just used a loaf case instead)

Method

Preheat oven to 170°C (325°F) Gas 3.


Put the sugar and eggs in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat until well incorporated. Beat in the mashed banana.


Add the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and ginger to the sugar mixture. Mix it thoroughly until all the dry ingredients have been incorporated into the egg mixture. Pour in the melted butter and beat until all the ingredients are well mixed.


Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and smooth over with a palette knife. Bake in the preheated oven for about 1 hour or until firm to the touch and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool slightly in the tin before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely. Personally, I can't resist eating bread when it's still warm :) Enjoy!