This deliciously moist cake won't last long over the Christmas – or any – period.
Ingredients
- 115g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
- 4 really ripe bananas
- 170g muscovado sugar
- 75g glacé cherries, chopped
- 75g dried cranberries, raisins or dried apricots (or mixture of all three)
- 50g nuts, such as almonds, chopped
- 2 medium free-range eggs
- 225g self-raising flour
- ½ tsp baking powder
Method
- 1. Preheat the oven to 160°C/fan140°C/ gas 3. Rub a little butter inside 2 x 450g loaf tins. Cut a piece of baking paper to fit the bottom of the tin. Put the paper into the tin and rub again with a little butter. This is called lining the tin and makes it easier to remove the cake from the tin when it’s cooked! Or line the tins with white paper loaf tin cases.
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- 2. In a bowl, mash the bananas until smooth with a fork – the bananas will need to be really ripe. Add the butter and sugar and mix well until smooth.
- 3. Add the cherries, dried cranberries, chopped nuts and eggs and mix well. Sift over the flour and baking powder and stir gently to just mix (if you mix it for too long the cakes may not rise), then spoon into the tins.
- 4. Bake for 55 minutes-1 hour. To check if they’re cooked, stick a skewer into the middle of the cakes. If it comes out clean, they are ready.
- 5. Ask an adult to remove the tins from the oven. Leave to cool in the tins for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Decorate with some coloured ribbon for the fete.
Chef's tip
This recipe is a great way to use up ripe bananas. Have a look in a cookshop for the pretty loaf tin liners.
To make one big loaf, use a 900g tin and cook the cake for about 1 hour 15-25 minutes.