Check out this easy banana bread recipe
As I had a few overly ripe bananas, now was the perfect time to bake a loaf of banana bread.
Having never made one before, I scoured the internet for a recipe that seemed quick and easy. I found one from BBC Good Food and decided to give it a try.
The BBC recipe claims that this sweet treat is a cross between banana bread and a drizzle cake.
The description reads: “This easy banana loaf recipe is a quick bake that can be frozen. It’s great for using up overripe bananas, too.”
With the recipe looked promising at first glance, I decided to see what the reviews were saying. One claimed that it was the “best ever banana bread” they made while another argued that it was “awful”.
READ MORE: I made creamy garlic and paprika chicken in less than 15 minutes – so delicious
Moving on to making the banana bread, I started by weighing out and prepping all of the ingredients – this took no time at all.
Ingredients
For banana bread
140g butter, softened
140g caster sugar
Two eggs, beaten
140g self-raising flour
One teaspoon baking powder
Two ripe bananas, mashed
For toppings
50g icing sugar
Handful of dried banana chips
Method
I started by preheating my oven to 160 fan. For electric and gas ovens it would be 180C and gas mark four.
The recipe then said to butter a 2lb loaf tin and line the base and sides with baking parchment. As I was using a loaf tin cake liner there was no need to grease the tin.
Moving on to making the banana bread, I creamed together the softened butter and caster sugar together until the mixture was light and fluffy. This took around a minute to do so with a hand mixer.
Don’t miss…
Potatoes stay fresh for longer and won’t sprout when following game-changing tip[EXPERT]
Best method to cook leg of lamb with easy and delicious recipe from cooking pro[INSIGHT]
Make easy tender and juicy roast beef that melts in your mouth and is flavourful[RECIPE]
- Support fearless journalism
- Read The Daily Express online, advert free
- Get super-fast page loading
Once the mixture resembled a pale yellow colour, I slowly added the two eggs with half of the 140g of flour the recipe calls for.
Afterwards, I folded the remaining flour, baking powder and two mashed bananas with a spatula. It’s important to stop folding the mixture once everything is combined as you risk knocking too much air out of it.
Next, I poured the mixture into the prepared tin and put it in the preheated oven.
The recipe instructed checking on the banana bread at five-minute intervals from around 30 to 40 minutes in the oven – this was a big mistake.
Checking in at 40 minutes in, the loaf looked great but still was not fully done as I had tested it with a skewer and when I removed it, it didn’t come out clean.
When I next checked on the loaf, after five minutes, the middle had completely sunk.
As I followed the recipe exactly, had the right sized tin and the baking powder I used was in date, the only possible cause for this could be that I checked on the loaf too early, despite this being when the recipe said to start checking on the banana bread.
I then put the loaf back into the oven for a further five minutes before it was ready. I left the cake to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, before moving it to a wire rack.
While the loaf was cooling, it was time to move on to the icing. To make this, I mixed the icing sugar with water until it turned into a slightly runny consistency. I drizzled this with a spoon across the top of the cake and finished decorating it with a few dried banana chips.
Despite the banana bread sinking, it did taste delicious. For anyone planning to follow this recipe, I would just recommend that they leave the loaf to bake in the oven for 50 minutes rather than 30 to 40 minutes before checking in on it.
Source: Read Full Article