Nothing planned for tomorrow’s afternoon snack? Then I have a little idea! What’s more, chances are you have 2 or 3 very ripe, almost black bananas lying around and you don’t know what to do with them. Personally, I can’t eat ultra-ripe bananas as they are, so they always end up in a loaf cake. I’ve already made a few banana chocolate loaf cakes — they’re super good and dead easy to make. This time, I didn’t want to put chocolate in it. And then I came across Christophe Michalak’s banana loaf cake recipe. That was all it took for me to try it.
Compared with the chef’s recipe, I reduced the amount of sugar. Honestly, 200 g seemed a lot to me. I tried it with 150 g and it was very good. I used muscovado sugar, for more flavour. Nothing like white sugar, or even brown sugar. You’ll obviously find it in organic shops, but not only. You can also find it in supermarkets (Daddy sells a sugar called “la poudre à Maurice”, a kind of full-bodied brown sugar that is clearly similar to muscovado sugar).
Another small change: I didn’t make the crumble that goes on top of the cake. I wanted to go as quickly and simply as possible. For those who’d still like to add a little crumble on top, you just need to mix 40 g each of icing sugar, ground almonds, butter and flour. Once the mixture is nice and crumbly, sprinkle the cake with this crumble. I’ll try it sometime — it can’t be bad.
I have 3 bananas going off… I may well make this recipe again tomorrow!
Ingredients & method
1 component · Complete recipe
Christophe Michalak’s Banana Loaf Cake
Ingredients
- 150 g (5.3 oz) softened butter
- 200 g (7.1 oz) muscovado sugar (I used 150 g (5.3 oz))
- 100 g (3.5 oz) eggs
- 285 g (10.1 oz) ripe bananas
- 240 g (8.5 oz) plain flour (type 55)
- 10 g (0.4 oz) baking powder (I used 8 g (0.3 oz))
- 25 g (0.9 oz) amber rum
Method
1
Preheat the oven to 150°C / 300°F fan.
2
In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the softened butter and muscovado sugar and beat vigorously for 2–3 minutes. The mixture will thicken and turn slightly pale.
3
Add one egg and whisk at maximum speed for one minute.
4
Reduce the speed, add the second egg and whisk again at maximum speed. The mixture may look slightly curdled — that’s fine. Add the pre-sifted flour and baking powder, then fold gently with a spatula until smooth.
5
Add the rum and mix again. The alcohol evaporates during baking — if you’d rather leave it out, that’s perfectly fine. I was worried 25 g (0.9 oz) would be too much, but at tasting the rum flavour was pleasant and not overpowering. Roughly mash the bananas with a fork, then add them to the batter and fold in with a spatula.
6
Pour the batter into a buttered and floured loaf tin (I use a baking spray — much more convenient).
7
Bake for approximately 1 hour. Don’t hesitate to check doneness by inserting a knife — it should come out clean.
8
Leave the cake to cool on a wire rack. It will keep for 2 days wrapped in cling film.
Gallery
