Chocolate Banana Cake

They sat in the basket, staring malevolently at me, their long yellow bodies huddled together.  I was being guilted by forgotten bananas and it was time to use them or lose them.  I'm sure I'm not the only person who buys food with great intentions and then forgets about it, only to rediscover it a week or two later when it's beyond salvaging.  Not the case with this recipe : the bananas were going to a good home and turned into a moist chocolately cake with chunks of very ripe banana strewn within.

This cake recipe multiplies and freezes very easily, so if you have a bunch of six bananas lurking in the fruit bowl, just double up the recipe and you'll get two loaf cakes and a round 8-inch cake from the mixture.  Now, don't you feel positively saintly for not wasting food?

Chocolate Banana Cake

3 very ripe Bananas, mashed
125ml Vegetable Oil
2 Eggs
100g Soft Light Brown Sugar
225g Plain Flour
1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
45g Cocoa Powder
1 pinch of Salt

Preheat your oven to 180c/Gas Mark 5 and line a 2lb loaf cake tin with a paper case.

In a large bowl, mix the mashed banana, vegetable oil, eggs & sugar.  By hand is fine, using a food mixer is very quick and painless.

Sift the dry ingredients into the banana mixture & beat gently until well combined. Now pour the mixture into the loaf tin - I use a soup ladle for this as it's the least messy option...

Bake for 25-30 minutes (cake), 45-50 minutes (loaf) until nicely risen and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.  Cool in the tin for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Serve with cream, creme fraiche or some Creme Anglaise that you found in the fridge.