BANANA CAKE

One great way to enrich a cake is to add over-ripe bananas to it. It adds zest to your cake, not to mention nutrients for the kids. Bananas are a good source of potassium, fibre and help maintain sugar levels in the body.

A banana cake makes a good accompaniment for breakfast or afternoon snack. One can also use ripe bananas to bake a birthday cake. Children love to munch on the icing even more than the cake. Ensure the icing tastes good and is made of bright colours. Kids love the colours.

You may choose to cut the cake into good edible sizes and accompany with vanilla or strawberry ice-cream. You may even throw in some fresh strawberries to make the experience fun. To ensure the kids are loaded with calcium, serve the cake with fresh milk.

Ingredients

• 125g of salted butter
• 185g of castor sugar
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• 2 very ripe bananas
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
• 100ml of milk
• 180g of self-raising flour

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Place 125g of salted butter and 185g of castor sugar in an electric mixer and beat until creamy. Add a teaspoon of vanilla and keep beating. Peel 2 very ripe bananas — yielding about 180g of flesh — and mash them with a fork. Add them, along with a whole egg, to the butter and mix well.
• In a small bowl, mix 1/4 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda with 100ml of milk until it is dissolved, then add to the banana mixture. Sift 180g of self-raising flour and fold into the mixture.
• Use butter to grease a small loaf or cake tin, then pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 45 minutes. Serve with fresh vanilla cream or cream cheese.

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