Individual Banana Loaves

Sadie and I love bananas! I like mine sliced served on hot buttery toast and Sadie likes her peeled and served straight up! Unfortunately the Middle East does not produce their own fruit or vegetables so we have to import everything. I buy my tomatoes from Holland, my oranges from the USA and my potatoes from Australia....and pay dearly for them! Bananas are imported from the Philippines and my house keeper back in the UAE once told me that bananas are the Philippines biggest export and she was very proud of the fact! Unfortunately because the bananas have to travel a long distance, by the time they get to us they basically have a days' shelf life before they are too ripe and bruised to eat. This means that I pretty much buy bananas on a daily basis! 

I had 2 bananas that were bordering on dodgy so instead of wasting them I decided to bake! I searched through some of my cooking magazines and came across the following recipe from Taste Magazine. These mini loaves are delicious, very moist and sweet enough to have without the icing. I used icing just for the beauty shot. They can be stored in an airtight container for 4-5 days however, I have frozen mine so that Sadie can enjoy them in her lunch box!

Ingredients

Butter, to grease

1 1/4 cups self-raising flour

1/2 cup castor sugar

125g butter, melted, cooled

2 eggs

2 ripe bananas, mashed

1 cup pure icing sugar (this is optional)

Method

Preheat oven to 180C. Grease mini loaf pans. (The recipe called for 8 x 1/2 cup pans, mine were slightly bigger and made 6). Combine the flour and sugar in a large bowl.

Whisk the butter and eggs together. 

Add to the flour mixture with the banana and mix until well combined.

Spoon the cake batter evenly among the greased pans. Use the back of a spoon to smooth surface. 

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set aside for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Once cooled completely, mix the icing sugar with enough water to make and icing thin enough to pour. Drizzle the icing over the cakes and set aside to set.