Yum

And everything was totally yummy! Marty, you have to stop being such an awesome cooking person, because now, between the two of us, I think we're going to suffer dreadfully at the hands of our gluttony.

So, while Martin spent his time chopping, slicing and making lists, I helped keep the work space tidy, and whipped up a banana cake/bread for Father's Day tomorrow.

We're off to visit the in-laws, and I was thinking of something we could take. I didn't want it to be too involved, but I wanted it to be tasty, and I didn't want to have to go to the shops again today! I wanted to use something that we had already, and we had a whole bunch of bananas that had been in the freezer for a while. I had threatened them with making them into something tasty for a while, but had never gotten around to it. So, today I made banana bread, which funnily I have never made before, so I hope it turns out okay! Just one note, when you defrost bananas, they lose ALOT of liquid. Drain most of this off before you mash them, otherwise they'll be really gloopy. This one was maybe a bit dry, and could have perhaps done with a little less flour, or a little less cooking time.



Banana Bread

2 1/2 cups plain flour
3 tspns baking soda
1 tspn salt
3 tspns cinnamon
ground cardamom (to taste - this can be overpowering, or leave it out if you prefer)
3/4 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup slivered almonds, broken into pieces
1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups sugar (I used about 1 1/3 cups light muscovado, and made the rest up with castor sugar)
1 tspn vanilla extract
5-6 bananas (or about 2 cups)
4 eggs.

Combine the dry ingredients really well and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar, add vanilla, then add bananas until well mixed and then add eggs. Mixture will look a bit curdled, but that's okay. Fold dry mix in, then pour into either a springform pan or a couple of loaf tins and bake in a moderate oven until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Make sure the tins are well lined and greased for easy removal - melted butter is the easiest, I find.

Plus, baking sweets and cakes and breads and so on is alot of fun...until something comes out burnt... A trick I learnt from my mum in helping her make Xmas cakes so many moons ago was to make sure you put a few layers of paper between the pan and the cake - no need to settle for the traditional single layer! Although in all honestly, Mum used to tie an old paper bag around the outside of her cake tin when doing the Xmas baking. I think she does something right, because people keep asking for them from her, year after year after year...

Now to dream of what do do with the box of broad beans we shelled today...