Is That Spiced Banana Bread Or Are You Just Happy To See Me?

at

Both!

By popular demand.

Millie’s Spiced Banana Bread

Reader Millie writes:

This is one of my favourite bakes ever. I confess, I’m not a huge fan of banana bread – but this loaf changed my mind. There is something immensely comforting about this bake, whether it be how easy it is to make or the delicious smell that wafts through the house as it bakes and lingers for hours after. It’s a very forgiving recipe too, in that you can adjust the spices to your personal taste and in that you can swap the Greek yogurt for sour cream or natural yogurt, and you will still get a delicious loaf. It lends itself especially well to toasting, requiring only a minute under the grill before the sugar begins to caramalise. I like it slathered with butter and a good-sized cup of coffee.

You will need:

115g butter, softened
200g caster sugar
2 large eggs
190g plain flour
1tsp baking soda/bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp mixed spice
½ tsp ginger
½ tsp nutmeg
240g mashed banana (roughly 2-3 bananas, depending on size)
120g greek yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract

How To:

1. Preheat oven to 170C/160C (fan). Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

2. Whisk eggs together and slowly add to the butter-sugar mixture, making sure to beat the mixture well after each addition. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl too, as this will ensure your mixture is fully combined. This, according to Her Majesty Queen Mary Berry of Cakes, will help to avoid the dreaded curdling of the egg. I’d also recommend keeping your butter and eggs at an even temperature, as this can also help. In any event, I usually carry on with the bake, even if it has curdled a bit.

3. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and spices. Add to butter, sugar and egg mixture and fold together until just combined.

4. Next, mash your bananas. I should add that I never actually weight out the bananas, just throw in 2 or 3 ripe bananas and the loaf has always turned out well. Add mashed banana, Greek yogurt and vanilla extract and mix again.

5. Pour mixture into greased and floured loaf tin and bake for approximately 50-60 minutes, until a deep golden brown and a skewer, when inserted, comes away clean.

Oo-er.

Pics via Millie

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21 thoughts on “Is That Spiced Banana Bread Or Are You Just Happy To See Me?

    1. millie bobby brownie

      The original recipe for this contained much more high-falutin’ fancy ingredients, half of which were not in my fridge/pantry, so I substituted here and there, and ended up with this recipe, which I’m quite proud of. Let me know how you get on :)

  1. ( ̄_, ̄ ) AKA Frilly Keane

    You’re welcome

    If I could locate the search/ archives I’d do a
    How it Started

    to How it ended

    btw Bake’sheeters, Tafton Clax sent on Mrs Clax’ pretzel recipe so that’ll be this weekend’s test back, stay tuned etc

    1. ( ̄_, ̄ ) AKA Frilly Keane

      No learning

      Just follow the recipe. Exactly.

      You can play around with it after you’ve got familiar with baking
      and your own kitchen, especially your oven

      Everyone should have a good loaf cake in their go to bake notebooks
      Try this one out first Junk

      Even if you have to buy the ingredients in special
      You’ll use them again for loads of other stuff to try

      If I could impress on you, and others, again I suppose
      is get the very best equipment you can afford

      so that means get yourself a good solid heavy loaf tin
      if you have a tenner say, spend exactly that
      not one reduced from a tenner down to a fiver,

      TIP for first time bakers
      Mr Price (there’s a great one on the Kylemore Road)
      Great forTins and Utensils
      and proper baking parchment

      and for the more experienced/ advanced baker that wants to do more confectionary stuff, like decorating
      they’ve a great range of kit and specialist icing stuff

          1. millie bobby brownie

            That’s great advice V. Every day is a school day and all.

            Cheers for the Mr Price head’s up too. I’ll be checking that next time I need a few bits.

    1. millie bobby brownie

      I think I use a 2lb tin, which works out at 1.5ltrs. That said, I’ve used different sized loaf tins and had fairly consistent results. I’d just keep an eye on it once it’s in the oven and always check with a skewer. I’ve been caught out before with a raw middle, much to my mortification.

      1. V aka Frilly Keane

        If it’s a dense mixture Mill
        Sit the loaf tin on a baking tray (that’s been in the oven getting nice and 170°)

        If your loaf cake needs more time,
        And then drop another baking tray/ tin in the rack over to let the loaf stay in the oven but take the heat off the top

        Btw. That’s not a bad tip for big fat whopper bread bakes
        Particularly cobs n’ sourdoughs
        I’ve been known to do the same for Wellington type bakes as well
        Just saying

        1. millie bobby brownie

          It’s not all that dense usually, but my oven can be a bit temperamental ever since we replaced the element last year. I must try your way next time. Usually I just throw some tinfoil over the top.

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