With spring finally having arrived, spending time outside seems to have won priority over slaving away in the kitchen. But here is a recipe which is definitely a keeper. After having played around with multiple banana loaf recipes resulting in quite a few failures (somehow loaf cakes and myself are not friends, they either don’t rise, don’t have enough banana flavour, or I undercook them with the fear of having dry cake, subsequently breaking them upon removal from the tin), I finally managed to create a loaf which not only rose adequately but was also moist, perfectly bananaey and scrumptious :-). This one was also baked for the previously mentioned birthday festivities. It can be made up to a day in advance and turns out best if one uses overripe bananas for the ultimate banana flavour.

Banana Pecan Loaf

You’ll need

300g mashed very ripe bananas
270g light brown sugar
280g flour
2 eggs
140g butter, melted
1 heaped tsp cinnamon (or more depending on your love for this spice)
1tsp baking powder
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 bag of pecan nuts (optional, can also add other preferred nuts or chocolate chips)

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C. Grease your loaf tin and dust with flour.
2. Beat the sugar and eggs together until well mixed. Add the mashed banana until incorporated.
3. Add the flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and  mix until all ingredients have been well incorporated. Pour in the melted butter and carefully fold it in.
4. Finally fold in the pecan nuts. We like them whole and not chopped, but feel free to chop if you don’t like large chunks of nuts.
5. Fill into your prepared loaf tin and bake for about 55-60mins until a skewer comes out almost clean. Leave the cake to cool for a few minutes before turning it out onto a cooling rack.

Rating: 8.5/10