Banana Bread

Dear Readers,

One of my pet peeves is wasting food. I am always looking for ways to use leftovers and stale (not expired or unhealthy) ingredients. Using over ripe fruits for making cakes and desserts is a great way to avoid wastage. I usually freeze bananas once they are over ripe and then use them in smoothies and banana bread or even banana ice cream - just put the frozen bananas in a food processor and pulse. Voila, you have smooth, creamy banana ice cream - it's that simple! So don't throw away over ripe bananas, no matter how black they've become they can still be used to create some delish goodies.

Banana Bread is one of the simplest baked treats out there and also one of the most comforting. When I first moved to Australia as a student, I used to live in a matchbox sized student apartment with no oven.The fact that my housemate and I loved desserts, would be an understatement. We really bonded through our love for chocolate and cheesecakes, you should have seen our grocery bills at the time. It was during this time that I fell in love with banana bread, I especially loved it dipped in chocolate - they way they serve it at Max Brenner (Chocolate and dessert place) Eventually we moved out of the student apartment and moved into an apartment with guess what- an oven! I used to bake a lot of banana bread then (bananas are cheap and I love the fruit) and still do. I  have modified various recipes and think I finally have a winner. This banana bread is aromatic, sweet, with a hint of spice and absolutely delicious dipped in chocolate or on its own. Give it a go, I am sure you will love it too.

Love,

Cookie

Recipe                                                                                              Print Recipe

(Adapted from The Big Book of Baking)

yields one loaf

Ingredients

225 g Self Raising Flour

50 g Brown Sugar

100 g Caster Sugar

2 tsp Ground Cinnamon

11/2 ts ground Nutmeg

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

2-3 ripe bananas, mashed

5 tbsp Vegetable oil

100 ml Butter milk

2 eggs

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Grease and line a 900 g loaf tin. In a large bowl, sift the flour, sugar, salt and spices. In another bowl mash the bananas with the Vanilla Extract and butter milk. Now add the whisked eggs and oil to it. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix well.

Pour the batter into the loaf tin and bake in the pre heated oven for about an hour. To test the loaf, insert a skewer into the centre. If it comes out clean, it's done if not bake for another 10 minutes and test again.

Loaf tin ready to be baked

Remove from oven and invert it onto a cooling rack. Once it has cooled down, slice it and serve.

Banana Bread Loaf

Sliced Banana Bread

Enjoy!

Tips: 

How to Make your own Buttermilk:

If you do not have buttermilk at home, you don't necessarily have to buy it. You can easily make your own at home. Add 1 tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice to one cup of milk and let it stand for 10-15 minutes. Buttermilk is ready.

Raspberry Buttermilk cake

Whenever I use an ingredient for a recipe and I have some left over it really irks me. As I mentioned before I really dislike wastage  I had some buttermilk left over from the pancakes. Surprise surprise...First it was Ricotta and now buttermilk! Haha, well jokes apart I was looking for some nice buttermilk recipes when I came across this one on smittenkitchen. The pictures left me drooling and the rustic look of the cake and its simplicity just clinched it for me. I have pretty much followed the recipe to the tee apart from adding some white chocolate chips, which is quite rare for me as I have a free hand at things and do like to change things around a bit. The combination of raspberries, lemon and buttermilk just didn't need any tweaking in my mind and before I knew it I was in the process of baking. 

The great thing about the recipe was that smittenkitchen from where I got the recipe, had weighed all the ingredients which made it really easy for me. I did not have to use a zillion cups and teaspoon measures to correctly measure the ingredients. I have included both the cup and by weight measures here as well. 

Baking is one of life's best pleasures. I bake when I am happy, I bake when I am sad (I like cheering myself with a sweet something) Well I like to bake almost all the time. I think home baked goodies make the best gifts, the best way to say thank you, I love you and you will be missed. I always like to take a cake to a friend's for dinner. I just really enjoy the process of looking for a good recipe, coming up with your own ideas and then working towards a beautiful finished product to be shared and eaten with your loved ones. So here's a simple everyday cake recipe that smells and tastes of summer. It has a nice crisp exterior and a really light fluffy lemony interior. Its a great recipe to try different fruits, nuts, chocolate combinations-so get creative. Meanwhile I enjoy the fruits of my labour- I think it will be perfect for afternoon tea with a nice cup of tea on the side. Pure Bliss :-)

Recipe                                                                                                                            Print Recipe                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

Recipe adapted from smittenkitchen

Yields a 9 inch cake, serves 8

Ingredients

1 Cup (130g) Plain flour

1/2 tsp (2g) Baking Powder

1/2 tsp (2g) Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Salt

56 g Unsalted butter softened

2/3 cup (146 g)  plus 11/2 tbsp Caster Sugar

1/2 tsp Lemon Zest

1 Large egg (for egg free option use a ripe mashed banana instead)

1/2 cup (118ml) Buttermilk

1 cup (140g)Raspberries

1/4 cup white chocolate chips

Method
Preheat the oven to 200 C. Grease and flour a 9 inch baking tin and keep it aside. In a medium sized bowl whisk together all dry ingredients - the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and keep it aside. In a large bowl beat the butter and sugar until  its pale and fluffy. Now add the vanilla, lemon zest, egg and beat well until its smooth and fluffy. 

Using free range eggs is important in ensuring the hens are happy chooks living a good life and not stored in cages in battery farms. Ensuring this means we eat a healthy product as well. For more information click on Free Range Eggs

Add the flour mixture in three small batches alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour.  Add the chocolate chips and mix everything with a spatula so that it is well combined. Pour the batter into the baking tin. Smooth the top with a spatula. Scatter the raspberries on the top and sprinkle the remaining sugar as well. 

Bake the cake for 20-25 minutes till its golden and cooked through (till a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean) Let the cake cool down before inverting it onto a cooling rack. After it has sufficiently cooled transfer it on a serving plate. 

Enjoy!

Tips: 

How to Make your own Buttermilk:

If you do not have buttermilk at home, you dont necessarily have to buy it. You can easily make your own at home. Add 1 tbsp of vinegar or lemon juice to one cup of milk and let it stand for 10-15 minutes. Buttermilk is ready.

You can pretty much use any fruit you like instead of raspberries. Use mixed berries, blueberries, black berries or even pears (with some bits of chocolate) Might give that a go next time.

This cake is easily overcooked so keep an eye out on it.

To make this cake egg free use a ripe mashed banana instead of the egg.