Any Time Any Place - Banana & Walnut Cake

I bought these organic bananas the other week -they were massive -I mean seriously huge -so big in fact that I was too embarrassed to walk down the street eating a whole one -yes that big! So I had a couple left that started to get some brown spots -now, I have very few fussy habits when it comes to foods but brown spots on bananas ...even just a smattering of flecks and I start to gag but enough about the giant bananas ;) The base recipe for this is taken from Blazing Salads Cookbook 1 and is pretty healthy overall -honey instead of sugar and also calling for wholemeal flour. It was of my own volition that the cream cheese frosting landed atop the finished product -for balance of course, for balance. I think this makes a great slightly healthy / slightly indulgent birthday cake or weekend coffee break cake or after dinner with a cuppa cha cake or afternoon slump with espresso pick me up cake -ah heck it's just a great cake.



What you need;                   -makes one loaf tin

  • 120g sunflower margarine -I used butter (room temp)
  • 150g honey
  • 2 eggs
  • 180g wholemeal flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 80g walnuts (reserve some for the top)
  • 2 bananas -if using giant ones -1 should suffice
  • 200g cream cheese
What you need to do;
  • turn oven on to 190'C/ Gas 5/ 375'F
  • grease a 450g loaf tin
  • cream the butter/ sunflower margarine and honey -using hand beaters or food mixer
  • beat eggs and add  
  • toast the walnuts gently 
  • roughly chop the bananas and add along with the walnuts
  • mix the flour and baking powder add to wet mixture 
  • pour into loaf tin and bake for 50-60 mins
  • when you can stick a skewer in and it comes out clean the cake is cooked -there might be some wetness from the banana
  • turn onto a wire wrack to cool
  • mix the cream cheese with a tbs of honey - I like it not too sweet -adjust according to your own taste
  • spread the frosting on and finish with some walnuts
Eat the cake before word reaches your friends that you've made it...

Do you remember the cartoon - Banana Man a schoolboy named Eric who turned into a super hero when he ate a banana? I used to go out with a guy called Eric (drifting into daydream) but enough about the giant bananas...