Banana Loaf

One of my all time FAVOURITE types of cake (?) is banana loaf. I had a few bananas that were starting to turn to the speckley brown phase, and as I prefer to eat bananas when they're more yellow, I thought this was as good an excuse as any to make a banana loaf. There are a lot of banana loaf recipes out there, and I always struggle with loaf recipes in terms of the temperature/timing as the top starts to burn whilst the middle is still uncooked. HOWEVER, I have found that the recipe from Tanya Bakes works really well, and I think this is a good starting recipe that you can adapt to personal preference. I took out the salt that the recipe says to add, as I'm not a fan of sweet things that have a slight taste of salt, and I added in chia seeds and sprinkled some brown sugar on for a crunchy topping. 

<<Ingredients>>

2-3 peeled ripe bananas

150g softened butter

160g dark brown soft sugar + extra to sprinkle on top

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

200g plain flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Tablespoon chia seeds

<<To make>>

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/GM4 (the recipe says GM3 but I knew in my oven this wouldn't be hot enough so go with what you think is best for your oven!)

Grease and line your loaf tin with greaseproof paper

Mash the bananas in a small bowl and set aside

Cream together the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until fluffy

Mix in the eggs and vanilla, then add the flour and baking powder until combined

Stir through the banana and chia seeds, and pour into the tin

Bake for 40-50 minutes in the centre of the oven, or until a knife poked into the centre comes out clean

Allow to cool and then tuck in!

Jess x