Butter Cake + Hand Mashed Bananas

Before I even owned a cook book, the book I knew where I could find recipes at home was this white mahjong paper wrapped jotter book that my mother stuck recipe clippings and hand wrote some of her own.

One of the first things I remember cooking from this book, well technically not cooking but baking was a butter cake. Baking was a safer way to involve children in the kitchen. Usually no knives or a live fire was required, instead sifting flour, cracking eggs, elbow grease, arm muscle and a ready frame of mind to clean up the mess was required, naturally made it the choice activity.

The first thing I did was to help with the sifting of the flour. Then I watched our aged kenwood mixer whirl around the butter and the sugar to form a white fluffy cream like substance. Next step was to add the eggs, and I did as I was told, one egg at a time. Finally, in went the flour and it we were nearly there. All that was left was to pour it into a baking tin and then into the oven for it to work its own magic.

Over the weekend, our friendly fruit vendor or fruit man as we call him gave us some free bunches of bananas that he had in excess. The only thing was that, they were already overripe and not going to last another day. What to do, what to do? Let’s find a way to preserve the bananas. Let’s make banana cake!

I’ve never made banana cake, but I’ve made butter cake. Over the years, this trusty recipe has served me well. Maybe practice made perfect or maybe it is just a fool proof recipe. I’ve added raisins and made cupcakes for gifts, mixed in chocolate for a marble cake and the now my latest creation banana cake (butter cake + hand mashed bananas + dash of cinnamon). I don’t think there is a difference if you mashed it with a fork, stone, masher or your hands, but I recommend hand mashing—there is nothing better than being in touch with your food. Squishing and squeezing the bananas in the palm of your hands, its really quite fun.



Banana Cake
Makes 1 loaf cake

Ingredients:
120 g sugar
250 g butter
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
5 large eggs
240 g self-raising flour, sifted
A dash of cinnamon
3–4 bananas, mashed

Method:
1. Cream sugar and butter in an electric mixer with a paddle attachment until pale and fluffy.
2. Add vanilla extract then eggs, one at a time, and mix until incorporated.
3. Fold in one-third of flour and cinnamon then half of the mashed bananas. Repeat and fold in remaining flour.
4. Pour cake batter into a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf tin then bake in a preheat oven at 180°C for 50 minutes or until top is evenly browned and a stick comes up clean when poked in the centre of the cake.