Banana Cake

Today is Penguin says Feed Me's 3rd birthday! Unlike last year where I had the foresight to bake something a little bit special for the occasion, this year the day just snuck up on me and so I didn't have time to bake anything special.

So I'm going to share with you this banana cake that I bake all the time at home but have never posted about. I have a constant supply of bananas in my freezer which are perfect and overripe for this cake. The bananas get tossed in the freezer after they've been sitting in the fruit bowl for too long, and when I get cake cravings I take them out to make this delicious and easy cake.

This is definitely the best banana cake recipe I've tried and it's never failed me. The cake stays wonderfully moist with a great banana flavour, and it's awesome on its own even without any icing or topping. It works great as one large cake but I like to divide the batter into two loaf tins - one for home and one to share with others (or both for home if Sir D is feeling greedy!).

And speaking of sharing, I wanted to thank everyone who reads the stuff that I share on this humble little blog. Thanks you to all the people who leave comments on the blog, take the time to email me, write comments and like posts on the Facebook page, interact on twitter, or just decide to be a lurker. It's made the last 3 years of blogging infinitely more fun and rewarding, and I hope you've enjoyed every second of it because I have!

Banana Cake
adapted from The Cook's Companion, by Stephanie Alexander

125g softened salted butter
1 ½ cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe banana (about 3 medium sized bananas)
Few drops of pure vanilla
250g plain flour
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup buttermilk or ½ cup milk mixed with 1 teaspoon lemon juice

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC and line two loaf pans with baking paper.

2. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, then add banana and vanilla and mix to combine.

3. Sift dry ingredients and add to mixture in two or three additions, alternating with buttermilk.

4. Spoon into tin and bake for 40-50 mins until a fine skewer inserted comes out clean. Cool cake in its tin on a wire rack for a few minutes before turning out. Can be stored in an airtight container for several days.