squashed banana cake

Esther Hughes shares a recipe for the packed-lunch bananas that didn’t survive the day

I wonder if anyone else, like me, is guilty of clearing out their work bag at the end of a long shift (or, more likely, the next day!) and discovering an array of scented surprises?

The packet of crisps you started but didn’t finish during an interrupted tea break; the smoothie named ‘Revitalise’ that caught your eye during your late lunch (although you just had a few sips before downing an instant coffee); and, of course, a trusty banana you shoved into your bag as you left the house for work, beaming yellow with optimism and goodness, now re-emerging from your bag in a combination of brown and black shades, and with a markedly softer texture. Despite the optimism and goodness, we never got around to eating the banana that became squashed underneath the weight of the day.

Thankfully, that doesn’t have to be the end of the story for our trusty, once-yellow-now-squashed bananas. No, my friends, when healthcare life gives you squashed bananas, make a squashed-banana cake! The ultimate new life for your forgotten fruit. In fact, the older and more squashed the bananas, the more delicious the cake. Just what the nurse or midwife ordered.

overview

• Prep: 15 mins
• Cook: 50 mins
• Cuts into 8-10 slices

Scale up by the number of squashed bananas you have!

ingredients

• 140g butter, softened, plus extra for the tin
• 140g caster sugar
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 140g self-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 50g icing sugar
• Optional but fun: handful dried banana chips (coconut flakes from cereal packets work well too!)
• Optional but fun: 100g dairy milk chocolate, roughly chopped (keeping a few squares back for sustenance while you bake)

method

STEP 1: Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.

STEP 2: Butter a 2lb loaf/rectangular tin and line the base and sides with baking parchment.

STEP 3: Cream 140g softened butter and 140g caster sugar until light and fluffy, then slowly add 2 beaten large eggs with a little of the 140g flour.

STEP 4: Fold in the remaining flour, 1 tsp baking powder and 2 mashed bananas. Then add your chopped up chocolate and gently mix.

STEP 5: Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for about 50 mins, or until cooked through. Check the loaf at 5-min intervals from around 30-40 mins in the oven by testing it with a skewer (you should be able to insert and remove it cleanly), as the time may vary depending on the shape of your loaf tin.

STEP 6: During baking time, relax with a cuppa after your hard work! Optional activities: lick out the baking bowl, voice-note a friend, or watch an episode of your favourite show.

STEP 7: Take out the banana cake and leave to cool in the tin for 10 mins, then remove to a wire rack, if you have one.

STEP 8: Mix 50g icing sugar with 2-3 tsp water to make a runny icing.

STEP 9: Drizzle the icing across the top of the cake and decorate with a handful of banana chips and coconut flakes – whatever takes your fancy in making it look fancy.

STEP 10: Enjoy! ¹

Esther Hughes is a Palliative Care Clinical Nurse Specialist