If you find some battered bargain bananas at the supermarket, you can always freeze them, without their skins on, until you’re ready to make banana cake. They’re often not as battered on the inside as they appear. I find a 23cm square silicone baking mould doesn’t need greasing, cooks quickly and never sticks. You need to put it on a normal baking tray as it has no structural stability when warm. Makes 16 slices.
125g butter
Three quarters of a cup of raw sugar
Two large eggs
Two large bananas
One teaspoon vanilla essence
Two cups (300g) plain flour
One teaspoon each of baking soda, baking powder and ground ginger
16 walnut halves
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C. Process the butter and sugar together in a food processor, fitted with a blade, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, banana (defrosted if frozen) and vanilla essence. Process until smooth.
Sift in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and ginger. Process until well mixed. Pour into the tin or mould and top with the walnut halves. Bake for about 30 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. A loaf tin or deeper cake will take longer. Allow to cool slightly before removing from the tin and cooling completely on a wire rack. Freeze cut into pieces, tightly wrapped in foil.
