Mary Berry’s Banana Loaf

I know, I know. Pause. I can just see you rolling your eyes at me right now, but I just can’t help it. Yes. This is another banana loaf/bread* recipe. Listen, it’s getting warmer now and I feel my baking days for this Spring/Summer are on their last leg. I’m not really looking forward to that, but one of the joys of this blog is for me to have a record of what I made throughout these past 6 years. Woah…6 years? Yes, and a few months. I can’t believe how much C&T helped me, changed me and taught me.

I’m always up for a good recipe, and it doesn’t matter whether I have a similar one in my files, I just cannot resist compressing something into the easiest and quickest form possible. Most probably that’s one of the reasons I loved doing algebra at school. No, seriously. And why I’m spending some of my very compressed free time decluttering. I just finished cleaning and clearing out my desk. By the looks of it, it seemed pretty decent to me, but boy was I wrong!

Unfortunately (for J) I collect stationery. The word ‘collect’ sends shivers down my spine – as in I’m never going to be a minimalist, well I never say never, but…nah…I will never be a minimalist. However I really wish to streamline my life as much as I can willingly accept. Does that make sense? I am thinking of writing something on this in the future, perhaps when I find a decluttering project to share.

Anyways, before I start to digress once again, I give you a recipe by the one and only Mary Berry. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t keep a bookmark on Mary’s recipes. They are all well-tested and exceptionally reliable. This one comes from a little book my mum bought for herself during one of her visits to Guildford. She didn’t use it, mostly because nowadays she doesn’t do much baking, so she kindly passed it on to me.

A few weeks ago, just before I fell and couldn’t cook for sometime, I made this for a little get-together at my mum’s home. I offered to bake a couple of cakes for her, and this banana loaf made the cut. It was so easy to prep and served me so well. I know you will love it. Thank you Mary! And thank you Mummy!

• 100g butter, softened
• 175g caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 225g self-raising flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons milk

Preheat the oven to 180°C/Fan 160°C, and lightly grease and line a 900g loaf tin (17x9x9cm) with baking paper.

Tip in all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. You could either beat everything for around 2 minutes with an electric beater or do this by hand with a wooden spoon.** Pour the cake mixture into the prepared loaf tin.

Bake for around an hour, give or take a few minutes, until the cake is risen and golden. It will be done when a skewer or knife is inserted in the middle comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool on a wire rack in the tin for 10 minutes, after which turn it out slowly out of the tin and leave to cool completely.

*The photo above is a mobile snap which explains the poor quality. Follow me on Instagram for more food and general snapshots.

**Using some muscle here worked well. Mary’s recipes are so reliable that you shouldn’t find any problems keeping your electric beater in the cupboard this time.

#enjoybeforeitgetstohottousetheoven (Apologies for the long hashtag!)

(Recipe very slightly adapted from Mary Berry’s 100 Cakes and Bakes, a My Kitchen Table Series.)

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