Better than banana cake

I'm not usually obliged to come into work on a Saturday, but post-quake, routine has temporarily gone out the window: stock was moving on Saturday, so I had to be there to produce the appropriate bits of paper.

I knew there'd be a handful of other staff on site, so when I came home on Friday night and spotted a couple of browning bananas in the fruit bowl, it occurred to me that a banana loaf might go some way towards brightening the day of my fellow Saturday workers.

Plus, I needed to use those bananas.

In the past, I've always used the banana cake recipe when I wanted to use up bananas. I'd never tried the banana loaf before, but I figured it'd be pretty much the same, just baked in a loaf tin instead of a cake tin.

Actually, the method for banana loaf is quite different: instead of the usual "cream butter and sugar; beat in eggs; add dry ingredients" of a cake recipe, the method is more like a muffin mix: you combine dry ingredients in one bowl, the liquids in another. Then you add the liquids to the dry ingredients and mix until "just combined".

I wasn't sure what the effect of these differences would be, but I was happy enough to forego creaming the butter and sugar. The loaf took about 10 minutes to mix up, but would have to cook for 45 to 50 minutes.

I set the timer for 40 minutes, ever wary of over-baking. When I took it out, I was uncertain whether it was cooked or not. My skewers were coming out clean, but slightly moist, and the loaf seemed to be very soft to the touch. Worried about the glugginess that always dogs my banana cakes, I put the loaf back in for a short time.


I still wasn't sure whether the loaf was cooked or not, but took it out of the loaf tin and let it cool overnight. It was only in the morning that I cut open the loaf and found it was absolutely perfect - not a sign of glugginess anywhere!

I took a plate of the loaf into work with me and offered my banana loaf to any who happened to cross my path during the course of the day. Thus a large chunk of my banana loaf was disposed of, and I managed to generate a few smiles, at least!

If I have bananas to use up in the future, I'll almost certainly use this recipe instead of making banana cake. While I did manage a creditable job of the cake last time I made it, I'm not confident that I can get good results every time I make it. The banana loaf is quick, effortless and has a lighter, moister result: I think I'll stick with this one!