Treat yourself to a slice of this heavenly banana cake.
Banana Cake
10
60
MINS
MINS
Metric
Imperial
INGREDIENTS
| 225g | Self-raising flour |
| ¼ tsp | Salt |
| 100g | Trex, chilled |
| 100g | Light muscovado sugar |
| 2 | Large eggs, beaten |
| 1 tsp | Vanilla extract |
| 3 | Medium-sized ripe bananas, mashed |
| 50g | Ready-to-eat dried apricots, chopped |
| 1-2 tbsp | Milk |
Frosting
| 50g | Butter, at room temperature |
| 50g | Icing sugar |
| A little lemon zest, finely grated | |
| 100g | Cream cheese |
| A few dried banana chips | |
| 3-4 | Ready-to-eat dried apricots, chopped |
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan oven 160°C/ Gas Mark 4. Grease and line the base of a 20cm (8in) cake tin.
Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add the Trex and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar.
Beat the eggs and vanilla extract together. Add them to the cake mixture with the mashed bananas and apricots. Stir everything together until combined. The mixture should have a soft, dropping consistency, which means that when you lift up a generous spoonful from the bowl, it will drop off in a moment or two. If the mixture is too stiff, stir in 1-2 tbsp of milk.
Transfer the mixture to the prepared tin and level the surface. Bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour. To test that the cake is cooked, insert a fine skewer into the centre. If it comes out clean, it is cooked. If not, bake for a little longer.
Stand the cooked cake on a wire rack and cool completely in the tin. When cool, remove the lining paper.
Beat together the butter, icing sugar and lemon zest. Add the cream cheese and mix it in thoroughly. Spread the frosting over the top and decorate with banana chips and chopped apricots.
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