Brown Sugar Banana Cake

Bananas and cinnamon have always been a classic combination but this spin on the traditional banana cake recipe produces a soft and light cake, packed with flavour! The brown sugar with its high molasses content caramelises the banana, adding depth of flavour to the cake. The use of oil instead of butter ensures that the cake stays moist for a longer period of time.

Make sure that the bananas you are using are overripe as they will be easier to mash up and add sweetness to the cake.

It is important to ensure that the eggs and sugar are whipped together well as this recipe does not have any leavening agents and therefore the whipping of the eggs and sugar creates air which makes the cake light and soft.

To add more texture to the cake, you can additionally mix in 1 cup of mixed nuts such as walnuts, almonds, cashews etc that have been roughly chopped. If you choose to add the nuts, coat them in the measured flour (so that they don’t sink to the bottom of the cake) and add in this mixture after the oil and cinnamon have been mixed into the batter.

Ingredients:

5 large overripe bananas

3 large eggs

112g brown sugar

60ml vegetable oil or any other unflavoured oil

½ tsp cinnamon powder

180g all purpose flour

¼ tsp salt

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 180C.

2. Grease and line a 9 inch round pan.

3. Peel the bananas, put them in a small bowl and mash with a potato masher to make a rough puree and set aside. (you can chop the bananas roughly before mashing to help them easily break down into a puree).

4. Add the eggs and sugar to a large bowl and whisk for about 10-15 minutes until the mixture is pale and frothy.

5. Add the oil and cinnamon to the egg mixture and mix well to combine.

6. Sift in the flour and salt and fold it in using a spatula. (if you want to add the nuts, mix them in at this stage)

7. Add in the mashed bananas and fold through the batter until well combined.

8. You can sprinkle a few chopped nuts and cinnamon over the cake before baking.

9. Pour the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake for 35-40 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.