My dad has an obsession with buying bananas. He buys a bunch every couple of days as he only likes them when they are bordering ripe. By the end of the week there are always enough left over for fritters and a cake. On Saturday mornings we tend to make banana bread. I like my ‘bread’ more of a muffin texture so started using a muffin recipe from Joy of Baking but putting it in a loaf or brownie pan and turning it into banana cake squares instead. I love baking with kids, it’s messy, helps them learn and teaches them some independence. I bake or cook something with Princess regularly and am known to invite her friends to come and have some ‘messy edible play’ too.
A couple of weeks ago we decided to adapt our tried and tested banana muffin recipe and it was a great success. Once again, Princess and I used a brownie pan with build in separators to make perfectly equal slices. This adaptation produced a denser and richer cake square. When baking with toddlers anything goes, as I soon discovered! Princess saw a packet of chocolate chips in our baking basket and decided she needed them. She ate half the pack then decided to throw some into the brownie pan and just like that, we had banana chocolate chip cake squares instead. I let her put them in a few of the individually partitioned squares just in case some people didn’t fancy chocolate first thing in the morning! Yum! This recipe is a great late breakfast but makes a wonderfully filling and tasty snack any time of the day. We like to eat ours when they are still warm from the oven, but find it very hard to stop!
Recipe adapted from Joy Of Baking
(Preheat oven to 180 degrees and line / grease baking tin)
2 cups self raising flour
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
3 – 4 ripe large bananas (approximately 1 pound or 454 grams), mashed well (about 1-1/2 cups)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup of chocolate chips (optional)
1) Melt butter and let it cool
2) Sift flour, salt and sugar in a bowl
3)Mash bananas with a fork, add vanilla and eggs
4) Add the wet and dry into one bowl and stir just until the two are incorporated. (add choc chips now if you’re using them!)
5) pour into baking tin and cook for approx 25-30 minutes or until the tops are brown and a toothpick / kife inserted into the cakes come out clean.
let the cakes cool for a while before trying to remove them from the pan.
