Unsophisticated Bakes - THE Banana Loaf

In my line of work, some days I can end up with a lot of surplus bananas. There's nothing terribly wrong with them, they're just too ripe, or have split in transit, or they just won't last the weekend. I don't like wasting perfectly good food, particularly not when I can bake with it. They almost always end up in the banana cake recipe I'm sharing below, although they've crept into a few welshcakes of late.

You will need:

125g soft butter/margarine

250g caster sugar

3-4 over-ripe bananas 

2 large eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

250g plain flour (or self raising, just omit the extra raising agent)

3tsp baking powder

optional handful of pecan nuts

Equipment:

1x 2lb loaf tin

Greaseproof paper or loaf tin liners

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 160°/150° fan & line your tin
2. With a spoon (or an electric mixer if you're lazy like me), mix the butter & sugar together until fully combined - it should have formed a paste.
3. Chop your bananas and add them into the bowl, along with your eggs & vanilla essence. Mix until you've got a lumpy wet mix.
4. Sieve in, then fold in the flour. Take your time, do it slowly, until the last of it is no longer visible, but you want your mixture to still be lumpy
5. Chop your pecans (or whatever nuts you fancy bedecking your cake with) as finely or roughly as you fancy. 
6. Pour your mixture into the prepped tin, and sprinkle the nuts evenly over the top of the cake.
7. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean. All ovens vary, so don't worry if it takes longer. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. Enjoy!

Variations

• You could try adding extra bananas. The most I've ever tried is 6! It makes the cake super-moist and a bit fudgy.

• You could also try adding nuts or chocolate chips to the mix itself, or even cocoa powder. From experience, the chocolate chips option is divine.