Okay, i have a little confession to make i have recently become overindulged in the world of Nigella Lawson. She has been my cooking aspiration for the past few weeks. I have become a sort of Nigella addict so every little cooking matter has a part of her in it, may that be a simple change of ingredient that she thinks works or take little speech’s and using them in my recipes. I hope over the course of Christmas to start videoing some of my recipes to share with you all. I would happily buy a bed a live in her pantry, its probably the most amazing part of her kitchen! Apart from all of that today i spent my day wandering through town buying a few more Christmas presents, and of course spending nearly an hour in Waterstone’s bookshop reading her cookbooks which i have placed on order YAY! So anyway the point of this post is to share with you a part of Nigella style cooking in the department of baking : Banana Bread. Lots of people seem to think aw it’s just another cake but trust me once your teeth have sunk into this cake you’ll never turn back to shop-bought. It just seems to ooze banana chewiness and sweetness. To warn you it does contain alcohol in the form of bourbon or rum but feel free to substitute a builders tea. I have made this cake quite a few times with the bourbon and to be honest with you all, you really cannot taste it. It’s like a subtle under-note of richness and don’t be too worried about the alcohol as most of it evaporates off during cooking!
BANANA BREAD!
INGREDIENTS:
100g sultanas
75ml bourbon or rum or strong black builders tea.
175g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bi-carb
1/2 tsp salt
125g unsalted butter, melted.
150g sugar
2 large eggs
4 small very ripe bananas on the edge of going black! ( approx 300g)
60g chopped walnut kernels
1 tsp vanilla extract.
METHOD:
Line a loaf tin with parchment paper on the bottom and butter and flour the sides.
Put the sultanas in a small saucepan with the alcohol or tea of choice and bring to the boil. Remove from heat and leave covered for about an hour until the sultanas have doubled in size.
Preheat the oven to 170c / Gas Mark 3. Put the flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt in a medium bowl and mix thoroughly. In another bowl mix the melted butter and the sugar together until light and creamy in consistency. Beat the eggs in 1 at a time, and mix well. Then add the mashed banana and fold in. Now add the walnuts, drained sultanas and the vanilla. Begin to add the flour slowly whisking all the time to prevent lumps. Once completely incorporated add the mix into the tin and pop in the oven for an hour to an hour and a quarter. To check if it’s ready a skewer inserted into the cake should come out clean. Leave to cool on a wire rack and serve! I’m sure this won’t stay round for long :)!
Thanks R. 🙂
Eat Well...Feel Well 