Banana Cake Recipe

Every family needs a great banana cake recipe, a delicious homemade cake that can be rustled up in no time at all, filling the house with that lovely banana aroma as it bakes.

This banana cake recipe is very simple, and is a great way to make use of those odd bananas that tend to languish in the fruit bowl. Once the skins go brown and spotty, they're just perfect for a recipe like this. Ripe bananas have much more flavor, and their soft texture means they blend into the cake mixture easily.

If you have a lot of ripe bananas you could make two banana cakes and freeze one. Another alternative is to freeze some of your ripe bananas. Just pop them, unpeeled, into a freezer bag and keep them frozen until needed. The skins will turn black, but that's simply a reaction to the cold temperature. Your bananas are still fine to use, and you can mash them straight from the freezer, or leave them to thaw first.

If you want to make a banana cake but your bananas aren't fully ripe, there's a cure - peel the bananas and put them in the microwave for a few seconds to soften them. Then use them in the banana cake recipe that follows:

Banana Cake Recipe

Ingredients

225g (8 oz, 2 cups) self-raising (self-rising) flour

100g (4 oz, 1/2 cup) soft margarine or softened butter

175g (6 oz, 3/4 cup) caster (superfine granulated) sugar

2 beaten eggs

3 bananas, peeled

175g (6 oz, 1 cup) dried fruit (use sultanas, raisins, currants, chopped glace cherries, candied peel or a mixture)

Makes a 2lb (900g) cake

Method

Pre-heat the oven to gas 4/180C/350F. Oil and base line a 2lb (900g) loaf pan.

Put all the ingredients except the dried fruit into a food processor and blend until well mixed.

Take the food processor bowl from the base machine, remove the processing blade and stir the dried fruit into the mixture.

Spoon the cake mix into the pan and bake for around 1 hr 20 minutes, or until a fine knife blade inserted into the cake comes out clean. Check the cake after 1 hr 10 minutes and if neccessary cover with a piece of foil to prevent the top from burning.

Leave until cool, then turn out of the tin.

This banana cake keeps well in an airtight tin for 2-3 days, or refrigerate it for up to 7 days.

For a banana nut cake, substitute chopped walnuts for some or all of the dried fruit, and scatter some over the top of the cake before baking.

You'll find another yummy Banana Cake Recipe in Elizabeth Martyn's collection of Healthy Cake Recipes.

This article may be published electronically or in print in its entirety as long as the author by-lines in the resource box are included and urls kept live.

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Banana Cake Recipe

Every family needs a great banana cake recipe, a delicious homemade cake that can be rustled up in no time at all, filling the house with that lovely banana aroma as it bakes.

This banana cake recipe is very simple, and is a great way to make use of those odd bananas that tend to languish in the fruit bowl. Once the skins go brown and spotty, they're just perfect for a recipe like this. Ripe bananas have much more flavor, and their soft texture means they blend into the cake mixture easily.

Dried Fruit

If you have a lot of ripe bananas you could make two banana cakes and freeze one. Another alternative is to freeze some of your ripe bananas. Just pop them, unpeeled, into a freezer bag and keep them frozen until needed. The skins will turn black, but that's simply a reaction to the cold temperature. Your bananas are still fine to use, and you can mash them straight from the freezer, or leave them to thaw first.

If you want to make a banana cake but your bananas aren't fully ripe, there's a cure - peel the bananas and put them in the microwave for a few seconds to soften them. Then use them in the banana cake recipe that follows:

Banana Cake Recipe

Ingredients

225g (8 oz, 2 cups) self-raising (self-rising) flour

100g (4 oz, 1/2 cup) soft margarine or softened butter

175g (6 oz, 3/4 cup) caster (superfine granulated) sugar

2 beaten eggs

3 bananas, peeled

175g (6 oz, 1 cup) dried fruit (use sultanas, raisins, currants, chopped glace cherries, candied peel or a mixture)

Makes a 2lb (900g) cake

Method
Pre-heat the oven to gas 4/180C/350F. Oil and base line a 2lb (900g) loaf pan. Put all the ingredients except the dried fruit into a food processor and blend until well mixed. Take the food processor bowl from the base machine, remove the processing blade and stir the dried fruit into the mixture. Spoon the cake mix into the pan and bake for around 1 hr 20 minutes, or until a fine knife blade inserted into the cake comes out clean. Check the cake after 1 hr 10 minutes and if neccessary cover with a piece of foil to prevent the top from burning. Leave until cool, then turn out of the tin. This banana cake keeps well in an airtight tin for 2-3 days, or refrigerate it for up to 7 days.

For a banana nut cake, substitute chopped walnuts for some or all of the dried fruit, and scatter some over the top of the cake before baking.

Banana Cake Recipe

You'll find another yummy Banana Cake Recipe in Elizabeth Martyn's collection of Healthy Cake Recipes.

This article may be published electronically or in print in its entirety as long as the author by-lines in the resource box are included and urls kept live.

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Banana Chips - Homemade With A Food Dehydrator

Banana chips are a great tasting, healthy snack that can be easily made with a food dehydrator. Banana chips' basic ingredients should consist of:

ripe or slightly overripe fruit if desired, lemon or lime juice

Dried Fruit

To make these chips: Peel the fruit and cut them crosswise into about 1/4 inch thick chips. If desired, before dehydrating, you can dip the sliced fruit into lemon or lime juice to help prevent browning post drying. If the bananas are pretreated with citrus juice, make sure they are well drained and dried before placing them in the food dehydrator. Dry the bananas at 130 degrees Fahrenheit for up to 8 to 10 hours. The dried fruit should feel dry and leathery when done.

Homemade banana chips are a wholesome, healthy, 100% fruit snack that are easy and fun to make. They are very sweet and have an intense fruit flavor due to the food's reduced water content which intensifies the fruit's natural sugars.

In contrast to homemade chips, store bought dried bananas are typically deep fried in unhealthy oils, like coconut or palm oils. These oils contain high amounts of saturated fats. Further store bought chips can be covered with additional sugars or honey. In fact, nutritional guidelines list a 3 ounce serving of fried chips as containing 44% of the daily recommended amount of fat and 123% of the daily recommended amount of saturated fat.

To recap:

Homemade banana chips - 100% fruit, 100% natural ingredients and sugars

Store bought banana chips - Fruit, but also unhealthy saturated fats and added sugars

Go with the real thing - homemade dried bananas made with your food dehydrator.

Banana Chips - Homemade With A Food Dehydrator

Visit Food Dehydrator to read food dehydrator reviews, obtain dehydrator recipes and learn how to make fruit leather and beef jerky.

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Banana Blueberry Nut Muffins and Fruit Compote

Here is an unusual breakfast to start your day. Mixed dried fruits are stewed and served with blueberry muffins fresh from the oven. Recipe at: delectableplanet.com

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