Baking (Banana) Bread

 - From The Hummingbird Bakery

270g / 9.5 soft light brown sugar (I used dark brown sugar)
2 eggs
200g / 7oz peeled bananas, mashed - I did slightly more.

280g / 10oz plain flour

1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 tsp ground cinnamon (I did 1 1/2)
1 tsp ground ginger (I did 1 1/2)
140g unsalted butter, melted
(I added the seeds from two cardamom pods)

Grease a 23x13cm loaf tin and dust with flour. Preheat the oven to 170C / 325F

Put the sugar and eggs in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat until well incorporated. Beat in the mashed bananas.


Add the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and ginger to the sugar mixture. Mix it thoroughly until all the dry ingredients have been incorporated into the egg mixture. Pour in the melted butter and beat until all the ingredients are well mixed.


Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and smooth over with a palette knife. Bake in the preheated oven for about 1 hour or until firm to the touch and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave the cake to cool slightly in the tin before turning out to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Notes: I did two batches. The first was as noted, the second I added a cooking apple and a fistful of walnuts, chopped into pieces about the size of the eraser at the end of a pencil.

I didn't melt the butter in the first batch, instead chopping it into small cubes and then working it in the flour.

The dark brown sugar has a higher moisture content, and may require a longer baking time - I checked with a wooden skewer and then gave it an additional 15 mins.