Easy peasy banana cake!

When I was growing up as a child in my family home, I was brought up to be vegetarian. Vegan food was also commonly incorporated into our diets a lot too (although we were all big cheese lovers so couldn't fully commit!).

Being vegan boasts so many benefits, both environmentally and of course for our health. A really great idea you can bring into your family if you aren't willing to declare yourself a vegan, is by having a few days a month dedicated to it! You might learn to love it, and realize just how delicious it can be, and that it isn't all rabbit food! My family have "vegan Monday" every week , which I'm hoping to gradually increase over time. It's a great start, and so much opportunity to find and try new yummy recipes!

A favourite of mine is my mum's banana cake. Despite it being sooo delicious and quick to make, the recipe is so very simple! Worth a try right?! The ingredients are commonly found in your kitchen already, prep time is just 5/10 mins. Because it's so simple, its firm favourite to bake with children too!

Banana cake is perfect for old bananas that have gone really soft. A bonus in my house, if you have children like mine who decide 1 week they love banana's and demolish a whole bunch in an afteroon.. then the next they could all be sat untouched for days until they are turning black (typical!).

For the recipe you will need:

~ 3 ripe banana's (preferably brown/black)

~ 100g demerara sugar / brown sugar

~ 225g of self raising flour

~ 2 (heaped) teaspoons of baking powder

~ 75ml sunflower oil (as well as extra for greasing)

~ 3 teaspoons of cinnamon

~ 50g of raisins (or a substitute of your choice

~ 2 lb loaf tin

~ mixing bowl

~ mixing spoon

~ fork

~ Aluminum/tin foil

~ skewer

~ A teaspoon

~ A sieve

~ Weighing scales

~ measuring jug

Method

~ To start you need to preheat your oven to 200c (180c fan oven), then line and grease a 2lb loaf tin

~ Secondly peel, then mash the banana's with a form and mix in a bowl with the demerara sugar and the sunflower oil

~ Now sieve the self raising flour into the bowl. Then add the baking powder, cinnamon, and raisins (or your choice of dried fruit/nuts). Stir well, combining all the mixture

~ It's now time to spoon the mixture into your loaf tin, be sure to scrape it all into the tin from any corners. After this, you can place the tin in your preheated oven for 20 mins.

~ After 20 mins, take out your banana cake and cover it with tin foil, this is to stop too much browning. Let it bake for a further 10-20 mins (or until a skewer comes out clean

~ Once out the oven , allow to cool before slicing

~ your banana cake can be eaten that day, or be stored in an air tight container, or in the fridge for up to 3 days!

Tips!

~ Instead of Self raising flour, you can use plain flour, however, you will need to adjust the baking powder accordingly. Using 225g of plain flour, please use 3 heaped teaspoons of baking powder!

~ This recipe is for 3 medium sized bananas, if you are using large or small bananas you will need to adjust your recipe. For example, 4 small bananas or 2 very large,

~ Olive oil is also fine to use as a substitiute as oppposed to sunflower oil!

~ Some great alternatives, if you arent a raisin lover are dried apricots, pears, dates/ dried plums, cherries, walnuts, pecans, almonds, cashews. You can use pretty much any dried fruit of youre choosing, but be sure to chop them into 1/4 inch pieces before adding to the mixture.