Published at 19:29, Thursday, 29 April 2010

WE WERE having a baking day at home the other day.

You can always count on us to have a freezer full of cakes so as never to be caught short if friends come round.

On this particular day, we had guests staying and they were ever so eager to get their hands dirty and be instructed in the art of cake making. They were astonished to find us pulling a mystery ingredient out of the freezer to make a sticky toffee banana cake (a work in progress recipe to be shared only once perfected).

That said ingredient was banana.

Now here’s our top tip of the week. If you’re the sort of person who only likes to eat a banana at a particular point of ripeness it can mean you experience a bit of wastage as the rest of the bananas pass their optimum point. To avoid having to sentence them to the compost heap, simply peel and freeze them.

These frozen bananas can be defrosted and used in baking at your convenience. A word of warning though, you probably will not want to simply eat them as they will have discoloured slightly and have a different texture. They are perfect for cakes though as usually the recipe asks you to mush them up; this job is easier than normal if they have been frozen first.

This week’s recipe may not be a sticky toffee banana cake, but it’s just as good and a cinch.

makes 12

2 large eggs

125ml vegetable oil

200g brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

2 mashed bananas (fresh or frozen – defrost first though)

250g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

100g walnuts, chopped

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Lightly oil a 12-cup muffin tin.

Mix the eggs, vegetable oil, sugar and vanilla together in a large bowl.

Stir in the mashed banana.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined. Do not over mix; it doesn’t need to be perfect and will magically right itself in the oven. An over worked mixture will cause heavy muffins.

Gently fold in the nuts.

Spoon batter into the prepared muffin tin and bake for 20-25 minutes, until risen and springy.

Can be served warm or cold. These freeze well and can be defrosted as and when guests pop in.

Published by http://www.timesandstar.co.uk