Banana Bread
Great British Bake Off 2013 finalist Ruby Tandoh shares her recipe for the perfect Banana Bread
Banana Bread has a magnetic pull. Don’t be surprised if its sweet, deep banana scent draws you nose-first into the kitchen as it bakes.
The misty sugar glaze is an inessential but delicious afterthought. You can, of course, omit it if sugar levels are a concern.
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RECIPE:
125g Unsalted butter, soft
110g agave nectar
2 medium bananas, well mashed
2 tablespoons rum or brandy
2 large eggs
190g plain flour
11/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 cardamom pods, seeds only, crushed
For the glaze, if desired:
100g icing sugar
25ml water
900g loaf tin
PREPARATION METHOD:
Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan160°C/gas mark 4. Grease and line the loaf tin with baking parchment.
Cream the butter then stir in the agave nectar. Beat in the bananas and rum or brandy, then the eggs and a couple of teaspoons of the flour. Beat until smooth, but don’t worry if it looks a little curdled at this stage.
Combine the remaining flour with the baking powder, cinnamon, cardamom and salt in a separate bowl then add this to the wet mixture.
Fold the ingredients together then stir lightly until fully combined.
Spoon the butter into the prepared tin and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
While the cake is in the oven, make the drizzle icing: add the water to the icing sugar, a teaspoonful at a time, until combined. Set aside.
Once the cake is done let it cool in its tin for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack set over a tray (to catch any drips of surplus icing).
Spoon the icing over the top of the cake while it’s still hot. It’ll cover the top and run down the sides in thick rivulets, but will set to a cracked sugar crust as the cake cools.
TIPS:
This banana bread is made with agave nectar: it’s an alternative to traditional sugars and syrups but does call for some fine-tuning of the other ingredients to get the ratios right.
To compensate for the moisture added by the liquid agave nectar, I’ve used slightly less liquid in the batter than you might usually expect.
Although light, agave has its own distinctive taste, which in a plainer cake might be an unwelcome distraction, but here subtly complements the banana.
If you’d rather make this with ‘normal’ sugar, just swap agave for 140g of caster or light brown soft sugar and add 50ml milk with the rum or brandy.
Similarly, you can omit the cardamom if it’s not to your taste, although I really like the citrusy spice alongside the banana’s creamy sweetness.
