Nutty Banana Cake

The problem with bananas is that they really dun last very long once you get them from the market. so wat to do with ripe bananas other than making milkshakes out of them? make banana cake lor. the real challenge for me is that i can't use the mixer in the night when kiddo is zzzz (that's when i got time to try all these funny stuff. can't risk the kiddo breaking her sleep n The Wife giving me killer looks) and the oven's bit wonky (am suspecting that it doesn't hit the desired temperature very well, hence always have to leave longer than the prescribed time).

tried my 1st banana cake recipe in my earlier post which turned out more dense and moist. in fact it didnt quite bake uniformly so i'd ended up with really crusty outer layer n moisty core. this recipe is better. the cake turned out drier, still dense, uniformly baked and more fragrant (probably cos of the nuts). i adapted this from a recipe found online.....

ingredients

• 2 large bananas, ripe (approx. 400 g)
• 300 g self-raising flour (i didn't have it so i mixed 1 cup plain flour+1 tsp cream of tartar+1/2 tsp bicarb soda. 300g is about 2 times of the mixture)
  
• 150 g soft butter (i used salted)
  
• 150 g soft brown sugar
• 2 eggs (at room temperature)
• 60-80 g nuts (not peanuts though...i had pecan, almond, macadamia. they were lightly salted)
  
• 2 teaspoons fruit juice (original recipe called for lemon, i used apple. i figured that if u want some zest u shld go for citrus juice. i've also read somewhere that u can add fanta orange)
  
• 1-2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil (for keeping the cake moist)

recipe

• soften the butter. best way to do this is to leave the butter out of fridge at room temperature approx an hour or so before use. break up the butter with a fork will help
• preheat oven at 180°C
• grease the loaf tin and line it with greaseproof paper. just make sure it 'sticks' to the tin so that it looks flat on the sides when peeled off for cutting
• mash bananas until mushy
• chop the nuts finely. the original recipe suggested sultanas as an alternative if you have a nut allergy
• mix the butter and brown sugar into a mixing bowl and blend together with a fork. mix the two ingredients thoroughly and at the same time incorporate as much air into the mixture as possible. mixing in a figure '8' manner will help to get air into the cake mix. always mix in this manner
  
• stir in the bananas and chopped nuts/sultanas and mix thoroughly
• add 1 egg and sift in half of the flour and mix thoroughly
  
• add the remaining flour, egg and fruit juice then mix thoroughly
  
• add the olive/vegetable oil and mix thoroughly
• pour the mixture into the loaf tin, level it and bake for 45 minutes
• after 45 mins, test whether its cooked by poking it thrugh with a testing stick. if it comes out clean it's cooked. i actually went on for another 30 minutes, testing every other 5 mins (as i said my oven is wonky)
• when done, take the cake out of the tin and place it on a wire rack. this is crucial as it will stop the cake from sweating and getting damp on the inside
  

the good thing about this is that it didn't need a beater/mixer....so no bawling kiddo n no visibly upset Wife....but i'd to half it and go to bed (it was pretty late after i'm done) so it looked really crumbly (see above) when u cut it warm. but you can see the cross section better in the following picture when i took some out for afternoon snack the following day. :)