Serves: 8-10 slices
A very favourite teatime treat. It is extremely easy to make (good for baking with children) and just as good after a few days in the cake tin-presuming it lasts that long. It is quite crumbly if eaten on the day of baking but firms up when left for a day. When I was young we would go to London for the day and invariably end up in the Cranks in Covent Garden. No matter the time of day I only ever ordered the muesli (a sort of Bircher-style soaked muesli with molasses drizzled over-heaven) and a slice of banana bread. As soon as the Cranks cookbook came out it, along with the carrot cake, was the thing I made most often. I have added and embellished over the years and this is the end result…
Ingredients
- 150g unsalted butter at room temperature, plus extra for greasing
- 150g soft light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 2 ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
- 165g plain flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 100g white chocolate pieces or from a bar which has been roughly chopped
- 55g dried cranberries
Method
- Grease and base-line a 1 litre loaf tin. Heat the oven to 170˚c, fan oven 150˚c, mark 3. Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs. Stir in the mashed bananas.
- Mix together the flour and baking powder. Fold into the batter followed by the white chocolate and cranberries. Spoon into the prepared cake tin and even out the surface. Bake in the oven for 1-1 ¼ hours, covering the tin with foil after about 55 minutes. A skewer inserted into the centre of the loaf should come out just clean.
- Remove from the oven and leave in the tin for 15 minutes then turn out on to a wire rack to cool completely.
