Thursday 21 June 2012

The Easiest Cake Ever!



After a long drought, it felt great to return to blogging but I can't believe that two months has already gone by since my last one. The blog about chocolate encouraged me to write about some of our other regular sweet treats. We have plenty! This might be a real food, back-to-basics and sugar-free diet but that doesn't mean we are deprived of good stuff.

I bake bread most days here and the second most frequently baked item is banana cake. This is a wonder of a cake, because it contains hardly any ingredients. It has no flour, at all, making it very suitable for people on all kinds of exclusion diets (unless there is an egg allergy!) And it takes about a minute to prepare! So all positive!

Now, I have to admit, it isn't a favourite of mine. I find the texture a bit weird, but it is a HUGE hit with my two boys and with every kid who comes to visit. The other handy thing is that you can vary the size without any fuss, if you find your egg-basket or fruit bowl is running low. The cake works on a 1 banana per egg recipe so if you use 5 bananas you use 5 eggs and if you use 3 bananas use 3 eggs. It works perfectly using 3, 4 or 5 eggs. The honey is totally optional. I haven't put any honey in my cakes for months now and nobody noticed any difference! Banana is sweet enough!

Banana cake

3, 4 or 5 very ripe bananas
3, 4 or 5 eggs
1-2 tablespoons honey (optional)
1 tsp vanilla (optional)

Break up the bananas a bit and throw everything into your food processor or blender and blitz for a minute or two until the batter is smooth and creamy. Pour into a 20-22cm baking tin or silicone mould. Pop in the oven for one hour. The important thing is to keep your oven on a low temperature or your cake will burn. I use gas mark 2 or 3, so 150-170 C is perfect.

It can rise nicely in the oven but it will sink back a bit as it cools. The top will be brown which makes it look a lot like chocolate cake but the inside is a weird grey colour. It is very sweet with or without the honey and children will devour it in minutes!! You can also use the batter in all kinds of silicone moulds, it pours easily and sets well. I used it in Christmas stocking moulds last December and just recently in Easter egg moulds after the chocolate was finished. Make sure to keep it in the fridge, where it will last for 3 to 4 days, if your kids haven't eaten it all before then!