The Ultimate Banana Cake
I like to use honey in banana cakes as it gives a wonderful moist texture, a golden crust and a rich caramel flavour. To make four small cakes instead of one big one, use 10cm tins (recycled large tuna cans are perfect) and bake for 45-55 minutes. To make banana muffins, simply divide the mixture between 12 muffin tins and cook for about 20 minutes.
Prep time 15 mins
Cook time 1 hour
Makes 1 medium cake
Ingredients
- 250g butter, at room temperature
- 1½ cups raw sugar
- ¼ cup honey
- 4 eggs, at room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 large, very ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
- 2 tsp baking soda
- ½ cup hot milk
- 3 cups flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- Passionfruit Honey Frosting
- 100g butter, at room temperature
- 2 tsp honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 tbsp passionfruit pulp, plus extra for drizzling if desired
- 3 cups icing sugar
Method
- Preheat oven to 160°C fanbake. Grease a 23cm-diameter springform cake tin and line the base with baking paper.
- Beat together butter, sugar and honey until creamy. Add eggs, vanilla and bananas, beating hard for 2-3 minutes. The mixture will look quite separated. Dissolve baking soda in hot milk and add to mixture. Gently stir in flour and baking powder until just combined (do not over-mix). Spoon into prepared tin and smooth top. Bake until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean and the top bounces back when pressed (60-70 minutes). Cool in tin, then turn out and ice.
- To make Passionfruit Honey Frosting, beat together butter, honey, vanilla, passionfruit and icing sugar until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes). Spread evenly over the cooled cake. If desired, drizzle with extra passionfruit pulp just before serving.
- Store iced or uniced cake in a sealed container in a cool place for 2-3 days or freeze.
View a video of Annabel making this recipe in her new TV series Annabel Langbein The Free Range Cook: Through the Seasons at annabel-langbein.com
