I like bananas. Don't get me wrong. They're nice when they're yellow. Like, only JUST yellow. The first sign of a brown spot and I won't touch them. Not to eat them anyway. They're just so soft and grainy and I really don't like them like that. But mash them up, smooth them out and put them on toast or in a cake and I am sold.
I like having bananas in the house because they make a great snack or you can add them to a bowl of granola for breakfast or ice cream for dessert. But I forget about them. I see them and think, "I should really have a banana", but then I let that moment pass sans banana. So that's how I get brown bananas.
There is always, always, always a solution - cake. Either put the bananas in a nice, round layer cake with honeyed buttercream and maybe sprinkle it with pistachios (I'm so trying that next time!) or do what I did and make a banana loaf. A nice slice for breakfast or lunch with a little bit of butter is divine, or serve it with vanilla ice cream as a dessert.
I did something different this time. I always use white, plain flour for banana loaf. Except this time. I thought I'd mix it up and try using wholemeal flour. Best. Decision. Ever.
Banana & Cinnamon Wholemeal Loaf
4 ripe bananas
1 1/2 cups wholemeal flour
1 cup caster sugar
1 egg
4 tbsp melted butter (or sunflower oil to make it dairy free)
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
Drizzle of honey
Preheat an oven to 180 degrees C and grease your favourite loaf tin, lining the bottom and short sides with a strip of greaseproof paper. Mash the bananas in a bowl and beat them with the egg, butter and sugar.
In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Add it to the wet mixture and stir everything well so it's all mixed together properly.
Pour it all into the pre-greased tin, level it out and put it in the oven for an hour. Check the cake with a knife or skewer to make sure it's done before you take it out of the oven. Place the tin on a wire rack and drizzle the cake with clear honey in a nice pattern. Let the cake cool in the tin for half an hour while the honey soaks in. Take it out of the tin and keep cooling on the wire rack or slice away.