Banana and guava jam cake

Just after Christmas I won a couple of food prizes on Instagram and Twitter. The Insta prize of a food hamper from Tropical Sun, including a lovely book of Caribbean recipes arrived promptly.
The Twitter prize from Cirio has never materialised, and after several attempts at communication I gave up. The excuses were rather unconvincing, and I still see them tweeting comps regularly. It doesn't put me off buying Cirio products, but I don't think I would bother with their giveaways any longer.

One of the exotic products from Tropical Sun was a jar of guava jam. It's a thick jam, which reminds me of the quince paste in flavour and texture. My guys are more of a strawberry/raspberry/black currant jam type of eaters, and were not enthusiastic about the guava jam.

Then I remembered that years ago we used to bake a sponge with jam mixed into the cake batter, with lots of soured cream.

This is a variation on the theme of the Russian jam cake, which I used to bake as a student, with soured cream (Smetana), 1 egg, flour, oil and any jam that was available (strawberry, raspberry or black currant).
Yet again, I had bananas going over-ripe, and a single pot of yogurt that nobody wanted to eat. I didn't include oil in the photo, but I did add it.

Rum adds a bit of a tropical flavour too. It has been suggested by my Twitter friend and queen of baking Antonia, who mentioned adding rum to the banana bread a couple of times.

Banana and guava jam cake
Ingredients:
2 bananas, mashed
100g demerara sugar
2 medium eggs
3 heaped tbsp guava jam
1 small pot of yogurt
juice of 1 orange
1tsp ground cinnamon
2tbsp spiced rum
50ml mild olive oil
250g self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder

Mash two peeled bananas with sugar, using a fork in a medium sized mixing bowl. Beat in the eggs and guava jam. Add a small pot of yogurt, orange juice and spices, rum, olive oil, flour and baking powder.
Mix all the ingredients together, and pour the cake batter in a well oiled bundt cake tin.

Place the tin in the oven preheated to 180C and bake for about 45 minutes (check if it's ready with a wooden toothpick).
Remove from the oven, leave in the tin for  several minutes before removing it out of the tin and letting it cool on the cooling rack.

What have you been baking recently?

Banana carrot bread

I know that the mere mention of banana bread spreads yawns across the social media, since it's been the staple of baking during the lockdown, but please bear with me. I baked a banana bread last week, and it didn't last long. This week I have added a carrot to the banana loaf, and it was very tasty too.

We have a lovely café in town, called UE Roasters. They serve the best coffee in town, and oh boy, I do miss it. They also serve the best (and truly it should be with a capital B) banana bread with Greek yogurt and honey. If ever you stop by in Witney, treat yourselves to a slice of banana bread at UE Roasters, you wont' regret it.
I did ask them if they'd share their recipe with me. They told me they don't bake it on the premises, but people who bake it for them use Delia's recipe.
I have used Delia's recipe for banana bread, and though delicious, it's still not the same as they serve in the café. So, I'm working on trying to figure out what the secret ingredient is.

Banana carrot bread
Ingredients:
2 medium bananas, mashed
carrots, grated (130g unpeeled weight)
150g demerara sugar
100ml mild olive oil (butter is fine too)
2 medium eggs
250g flour
1tsp baking powder
1tsp cinnamon
a pinch of salt
60g walnuts, chopped (optional)

Mash two peeled bananas in a medium sized mixing bowl. Add a grated carrot and demerara sugar, pour olive oil, beat in eggs, one at a time, and add flour, baking powder, cinnamon, a pinch of salt and chopped walnuts. Mix all the ingredients together, and pour the cake batter into a well oiled loaf tin.

Place in the oven preheated to 180C and bake for about 45 minutes, until golden brown (check if it's ready with a wooden toothpick).
Remove from the oven, leave it in a tin for about 5 minutes before removing out of the tin and letting it cool on the cooling rack.

It is tasty warm, with a cup of tea and coffee. For a totally decadent treat, add a big dollop of thick Greek yogurt and drizzle a bit of honey over it. Mmmm, so, so good.

In this recipe I used Homepride Superior Sponge Flour from March Degustabox food box. Superior Sponge Flour is the latest addition to the Homepride range, a perfect flour for cake-baking.
It's made from 100% British wheat flour, and is available at Tesco.

If you don't have this flour (I know finding flour is still a problem in many supermarkets), any quality self-raising flour will do.

Skip walnuts if you don't like nuts in baking (or have allergies).
I prefer using demerara sugar with the banana bread, but again, caster sugar will be fine.

Banana oat cookies

The last ten days have been rather stressful here, hence my blogging has suffered. I didn't have any enthusiasm to write, even when I had spare time. It started with a phone call from school, as I was sitting in a cafe with an old friend, A. She is actually a friend of one of my dearest friends who sadly passed away three years ago. I haven't seen A since the funeral, as she lives in Sweden. She was visiting Oxford and we arranged to meet. I hardly ever go to Oxford these days, and you can always find me at home during the day time. By Sod's law, the only time I go out to meet a friend outside town, the incident happened.
My darling Eddie managed to knock out his front tooth at school. They called me, I jumped on the taxi, and unfortunately due to road works we were stuck in the traffic, with me frantically trying to call a friend in town to ask her if she could take Eddie to the dentist asap. I wish the school didn't wait for me and took him to the dentist who's based literally across the square.
By the time we got there, and the tooth was put back in (without any anesthetic), it was already an hour and a half since the incident happened. The dentist told me that if the tooth was put back in during the first five minutes, the tooth would have had the best chance. In the first hour - 50/50. After an hour, the best we can hope is for the tooth to stay for several years.
So, now my poor chap will have years of dental work and possibly implants etc ahead.
I nearly fainted when they were putting his tooth back in. My little boy was so pale, he was clearly in shock. I had to sit on the floor, as my head was spinning.

He was a real trooper when they were putting the tooth in, and later stitching the gum and placing a big staple across four front teeth with blobs of paste over it to hold it in place.
He's not been eating well, as the brace/staple bothers him. He also needed antibiotics for five days.

On top of that, Sasha had a bad cold, then it was my turn to be poorly, and yesterday Eddie woke up with high temperature as well. Arrrggghhh.

I haven't been baking much these days, except for a batch of banana oat cookies.
I had one miserable-looking banana in a fruit bowl, getting softer and darker. Not enough for a cake or banana bread, so I decided to try it as a partial substitute for sugar and margarine I use in choc chip oat cookies. It worked really well.

Banana oat cookies
Ingredients:
1 banana (about 100g weight, peeled)
50g caster sugar
50g margarine
70g oats with nuts and cranberries
180g self-raising flour
1 small egg
50g milk chocolate, chopped

In a big mixing bowl mash a banana with a fork, add the sugar and margarine and mix well. Add oats, flour, beat in egg and mix in chopped chocolate. Dip hands into flour and then pinch walnut-sized pieces of cookie dough, roll and flatten them slightly, and place them on a parchment paper in a baking tray.
Bake for about 12 minutes at 180C.
They will be still very soft, when you take the tray out. Transfer them carefully on a cooling rack.
Eat warm or cold. They are lovely.

In this recipe I used some of the American Road Trip muesli from Dorset Cereals which is basically oats with dried cranberries, almonds and orange zest. If you don't have this brand of muesli, any porridge oats would do, with dried berries, nuts or plain.

As I've made a good use of old-ish oats and an over-ripe banana, I'm adding this recipe to #KitchenClearout linky on Cheryl's Madhouse Family Reviews blog.

Banana cake with salted caramel mascarpone frosting

Caramel, bonbons et chocolat
Par moments, je ne te comprends pas...

I've been humming this old tune since watching the last GBBO episode. Caramel was the theme of week 4. I rarely cook caramel, or cook with caramel, but I do have a good recipe for Millionaire's shortbread with Terry's Chocolate Orange.
I like salted caramel flavours, but my homemade caramel is inferior to bought varieties, so typically I just buy a jar of Bonne Maman Salted Caramel or Waitrose own caramel sauce.

There was a huge hullabaloo when GBBO moved to Channel 4 and got rid of several presenters and one of its judges. I can't say I was aggrieved or even flustered a little bit, as I've never been a big fan of Mel and Sue with their puerile jokes and - though I appreciate that might sound like a sacrilege - I find Mary Berry quite boring too (sorry, Mary).
The current contestants seem to be a diverse bunch. Some friends asked me if I'm cheering Julia on, since she is from Russia.
I appreciate Julia's baking skills, but find her grimaces absolutely embarrassing to watch.
Now that the token Nana (Flo) left, I'm undecided who to root for.

Back to the caramel bakes: I fancied a caramel-flavoured cake, but would not dream of doing any of the spun sugar or fancy caramel decorations. I prefer easy bakes without any froufrou.

Banana cake with salted caramel mascarpone frosting
Ingredients:
2 big-ish bananas (442g weight, peeled - 272g)
150g sugar (mix of brown, molasses and caster)
2 medium eggs
80g Flora (or butter)
200g self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder
1tsp cinnamon, ground
1/2tsp cloves, ground
1tbsp salted caramel, heaped
2tbsp ground almonds, heaped
for the frosting:
100g softened butter
100g icing sugar
100g mascarpone
2tbsp salted caramel + 1tbsp for drizzle
a handful of choco caramel curls (optional)

In a big mixing bowl mash peeled bananas with a fork, add sugar and mix well. Beat in two eggs, and Flora, add the flour, baking powder, spices, salted caramel and ground almonds. Mix together well until you reach smooth thick consistency.
Cut out a circle to fit inside a spring cake tin, and oil the sides and the circle. Pour the cake batter inside the tin. Put the tin in the oven preheated to 180C. Bake for about an hour. Check if it's ready with a wooden toothpick.
Take the tin out of the oven. Once cooled, slice the cake into two layers.
Prepare the frosting by beating together the softened butter with icing sugar and mascarpone, stir in the salted caramel.
Use one third of the frosting to spread over the first layer. Sandwich the second half on top.

Cover with more frosting.
In a small bowl mix together 1tbsp of salted caramel with a little bit of warm water to reach a runny consistency. Drizzle this caramel over the frosting and decorate with choco caramel curls (found in Lakeland).

This cake will keep well in the fridge for a couple of days.

In this recipe I used a mix of three sugars, as I wanted to finish the ends of packets of brown sugar and molasses sugar, but by all means just use a demerara or brown sugar. Mascarpone could be swapped for cream cheese.

Adding this recipe to #KitchenClearout linky run by Cheryl at Madhouse Family Reviews, as I emptied the remains of a couple of bags of sugar, as well as used over-ripe bananas.

Banana yogurt cupcakes with chocolate chunks

Honestly, sometimes I'm exasperated with my family's eating habits. My boys, all three of them, are fussy eaters. Both kids refused to even try the boiled fruit cake I baked the other day.
I knew that Sash would not eat bakes with visible fruit inside, though he would eat a carrot cake with sultanas. Eddie is another fusspot. Thankfully, I had a couple of friends over yesterday, and they enjoyed my cake with a cup of coffee.
Sasha was looking quite forlong, venturing in the kitchen and opening the cake tins, hoping that something would materialise to his taste. I couldn't have my boy feeling sad, so decided to bake a batch of cupcakes to cheer him up.

I had a rummage around the kitchen, what did I have at hand? One over-ripe banana, remains of ground almonds, sugar, flour, a sample bag of oats, yogurt, margarine and chocolate chunks. Perfect.

I'm not sure if technically what I cooked are called cupcakes. They are more of sweet muffins, as there is nothing on the top, but then for me personally the line between the two is blurred.

Banana yogurt cupcakes with chocolate chunks (makes 9)
Ingredients:
1 banana, very ripe
100g caster sugar
100g margarine
2 medium eggs
25g ground almonds
40g porridge oats
120g self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder
100g plain yogurt (Greek style)
50g chocolate chunks

In a medium sized mixing bowl mas up a banana with a fork. Add the sugar and margarine and cream them together. Beat in the eggs. Add the almonds and oats, sift in the flour and baking powder, add the yogurt and mix well. Finally add the chocolate chunks and mix again.
Spoon the cake batter into 9 paper muffin cases inserted into a muffin tray.
Place the tray in the oven preheated to 180C. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Check if they are ready with a wooden toothpick, if it comes clean, the cupcakes are ready.
Cool them on a wire rack. Eat warm or cold.

Sasha could hardly wait, and started "working" on the cupcakes, while they were still pretty hot.

I had a little bite, and these cupcakes are lovely, fluffy and flavourful.

As I used some of the ends of packets in this recipe, adding this post to #KitchenClearout linky run by Cheryl from Madhouse Family Reviews.

And as there are chocolate chunks used in this recipe, I'm joining in #WeShouldCocoa linky run by Choclette at Tin and Thyme.

Odds and ends flapjacks

I've been rummaging through my kitchen cupboards, checking what needs to be eaten, what has to be thrown. I had the remains of peanut butter in a jar and coconut oil, literally a few tablespoons left over, then the end of the ground almonds packet and the remains of brown sugar with stevia. I also had an overripe banana - not enough for a banana cake, but might do for flapjacks.
There was a box of MOMA bircher muesli (raspberry & coconut) in the latest Degustabox, which I thought would be a great base for flapjacks. These are quick gluten free oats with fruit and seeds including raisins, dried apple pieces, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, coconut flakes and dessicated coconut, raspberries and blackcurrants.

Odds and ends flapjacks
Ingredients:
1 ripe banana, mashed
70g brown sugar (with Stevia)
3tbsp maple syrup
3tbsp peanut butter
4tbsp coconut oil
20g ground almonds
200g oats (bircher muesli)
50g strong white bread flour
50g walnuts, chopped

Preheat the oven to 180C.
Mash a ripe banana with a fork in a medium mixing bowl. Add sugar, maple syrup, peanut butter, coconut oil, ground almonds, oats, flour and chopped walnuts and mix well, until you get a sticky ball. Slightly oil the brownie 20x20 tin and put the mix into the tin, flattening it with a fork, and evening it. Make sure the ends are filled in evenly. Place the tin in the oven and bake for 25 minutes until golden on top.
Make the indentation marks with a knife on the flapjacks while the mass is still warm Once cooled a bit, cut with a knife into rectangular or square slices.

Despite the fact it was all bits and bobs, it is a very tasty flapjack. You don't need a lot of butter to bind the oats, as you use a banana. I've seen some recipes online for flapjacks where they use 250g of butter, that's way too much.

I think any flavour bircher muesli will work in this recipe. Or plain oats, with a handful of dried fruit or coconut flakes. Ground almonds could be swapped for dessicated coconut, maple syrup substituted by golden syrup or healthier date or carob syrup. The possibilities and combinations of flavours are endless.

Adding this recipe to #KitchenClearout linky hosted by Cheryl from Madhouse Family Reviews.

Carrot banana cake - #GameOnCooks

When it comes to baking, The Women's Institute which was founded in 1915, is a great authority. Last year I picked up a copy of The Women's Institute Big Book Of Baking reduced from £25 to £2.99. And though most recipes looked familiar, there were quite a few recipes with a twist on the much loved British classics.
I bake a carrot cake at least a couple of times a month, sometimes every week, as this is one of our family favourites. I have tried many carrot cake recipes, some were delicious, some less so.
The Women's Institute has created a carrot cake recipe with a twist - adding a banana to the cake batter and swapping the cream cheese frosting for buttercream frosting.
I have fancied trying the recipe, but have adapted it and changed the frosting back to cream cheese, simply because my guys are not overly keen on buttercream frosting. I have also skipped the dessicated coconut and did some other minor changes, but the overall idea of adding a banana to a carrot cake was a novelty to me. The WI named it a Passion Cake, not quite sure why, but I'll go for a more descriptive Carrot banana cake.

Carrot banana cake
Ingredients:
zest of 1 orange
1 banana, mashed
1tsp baking powder
1tsp ground cinnamon
1/3tsp ground cloves
1/2tsp ground allspice
200g crunchy demerara sugar
a pinch of salt
170g carrot (peeled weight), grated
3 medium eggs
45g walnuts, chopped finely + more for decoration
125ml vegetable oil
2tsp ground hazelnuts (optional)
225g wholemeal flour
For the cream cheese frosting:
200g cream cheese (I used Philadelphia original)
150g icing sugar
100g softened butter

Grate the zest of 1 orange in a big mixing bowl, add a peeled banana and mash it with a fork. Add the baking powder, spices, demerara sugar, a pinch of salt, grated carrot, beat in the eggs, mix well. Add the chopped walnuts, oil, flour and ground hazelnuts. The original recipe asks for dessicated coconut, but I couldn't find any in my kitchen, so I have reduced the amount of vegetable oil to 125ml and added a couple of heaped teaspoons of ground hazelnuts. Mix all the ingredients together, and pour the cake batter into a well buttered round cake tin. Place the tin in an oven preheated to 200C and bake for about 45 minutes until golden brown (check if it's ready with a wooden toothpick).
Remove from the oven and leave it in the tin for 10 minutes before removing out of the tin to cool completely.
Slice the cake in half horizontally.
Make the frosting with the cream cheese, softened butter and icing sugar. Spread 1/3 on the lower layer of the cake, sandwich it and top up with the remaining frosting. Sprinkle some finely chopped walnuts on the top.
Enjoy!

In this recipe I used a Lurpak unsalted butter to make a delicious cream cheese frosting. For the tasty frosting you need the best ingredients - a quality butter and a decent cream cheese. I used Philadelphia original. In the past I have tried Light and Lightest Philly, but they didn't quite work. They might be less in calories but make a runnier frosting, so the choice is yours.

And that's my second bake for #GameOnCooks.
To encourage us to do more cooking, Lurpak has started a new Game On, Cooks campaign. It's challenging Brits to turn their screens off and ovens on. Their motto is "You're not a cook until you cook".

If you're curious about the vintage style magazine used in the photos, this is a replica magazine from 1950s Household pack from Historic Newspapers. This replica memorabilia pack is a splendid educational resource, great for a school project or for bloggers who might use them in vintage themed posts - be it a fashion or recipe post.
This pack contains a Ration Book, Timothy Whites Xmas brochure, household bills, TV and 1950s Radio brochure, housework ephemera, mini postcards, leaflets on Belling fires and kitchen cookers as well as advertising images. These colourful prints were carefully scanned and printed as close to the original as possible.
I love the random choice of items in this pack.
For someone who loves rummaging at the flea markets and vintage shops, looking for memorabilia, this is an inspiring little gift.

Banana loaf (#ReadCooEat - The woman who walked in sunshine)

The Woman who Walked in Sunshine by A.McCall Smith is the latest installment of Mma Ramotswe's best-selling series. Its gentle humour, kindness and humanity for me are a literary equivalent of comfort food, the kind your Mum cooked for you when you were a child, and when the world appeared smaller and kinder. There is also comfort in recognition of the same behaviours from the same characters. In a way, this series is a bit like fairy tales for grown-ups, and I love it.

Mma Ramotswe is "forced" to go on holiday, and this proves to be quite a challenge for her, as she is not sure what to do with all her free time.

As a foodie, I'm always curious to read just what the book characters cook and eat:
"A bowl of meal porridge, drowned in milk and sweetened by a spoonful of syrup, was followed by a piece of toast spread with dripping and then sprinkled with salt and pepper. The toast was an indulgence - even by Mma Ramotswe's standards - but it was the one culinary treat she felt unable to give up, even in the face of evidence that it was really not very good for you" I don't even eat dripping on bread, but this delicious description makes me want to run to the shop and buy some. The power of word! "Mma Ramotswe finished her piece of toast, licking the last of the dripping off her fingers. It was the most delicious foodstuff imaginable; there was nothing, she thought, to beat dripping. You could order the most expensive dish on the menu at President Hotel and it would not taste anywhere near as delicious as dripping. Bread and dripping, preferably eaten outside, in the shade of an acacia tree, with the lowing of cattle not far away - what could be more perfect than that?"

Clearing the kitchen cupboards, Mma Ramotswe discovers some semi-forgotten foods: "Right at the top were the sweet things - the jars of produce she bought from the sale of work out at Kgali Junction: melon jam, cumquat spread, marmalade made out of bitter oranges from the Cape..."

Still on the matter of clearing off the pantry shelves:
"Dessicated coconut - something that Mr J.L.B. Matekoni loved on the rare occasions when they had a curry... And brown sugar, normally so useful for making the banana loaf that Puso and Motholeli so hankered after, was similarly spoiled when ants had somehow worked their way into the package..."

I've tried to find if there is a specific banana loaf, typical of Botswana. The only recipe for the banana loaf that originates in Botswana which I manage to find appears in Mma Ramotswe's Cook Book. I have seen this book in the library in the past, and even borrowed it to read last year or so.

If you want to read how to cook Motholeli's Disappearing Cake, The Dessert Spoon blog has reproduced the recipe from the book. It is a very basic banana bread recipe. I decided to jazz it up a bit, but not too much, trying to take into consideration which ingredients could be found in Mma Ramotswe's kitchen.

Banana loaf for Puso and Motholeli
Ingredients:
3 ripe bananas
100g demerara sugar
4tbsp olive oil
2tbsp golden syrup
2 eggs
pinch of salt
1tsp baking powder
1/2tsp cinnamon
1tsp vanilla essence
225g self-raising flour

In a mixing bowl mash ripe peeled bananas with a fork. Add the sugar, olive oil, golden syrup, salt, baking powder and vanilla and mix well. Beat the eggs in, finally add the flour and mix well together. The batter is quite thick. Spoon into a greased loaf tin, sprinkle a bit of demerara sugar on top, and bake at 180C for an hour.

It is a lovely, not too sweet banana bread. Great with a cup of tea. Of course, for a proper Mma Ramotswe's experience you'll need to have it with a cup of rooibos tea.

Have you read a book recently which inspired you to run to the kitchen and cook to your heart's content?

I hope you are inspired by books to join in the #ReadCookEat challenge.

The idea is to choose a book, either a world classic or modern fiction, or even memoirs and pick up a dish mentioned or described in that book and then recreate it in a recipe. Please say a few lines about your chosen book, and maybe even do a quote from the book.

If you decide to take part, please add the badge to your post and link up back to me, and either use a link-up tool or add the url of your post as a comment. Alternatively, email me with the link to your post (my email is sasha1703 at yahoo dot com).

I promise to Pin all blogs posts taking part in this challenge, as well as RT and Google+

Filipino-style banana chutney

A couple of days ago as Eddie and I were leaving his school, we noticed a small table laden with free fruit on offer, the leftovers from what the kids didn't choose to eat at their snack time. I picked a small bag of bananas, thinking that I would bake a banana cake or bread. Then once we got home, I decided I'd rather do a banana chutney. Having googled, I came across an intriguing-sounding recipe for Filipino-style banana chutney on The Guardian's Readers' recipe swap.
It has been submitted by Marmaduke Scarlet, a blogger who has lots of delightful recipes on her blog.
I couldn't find this particular recipe on her blog, so I'm pointing you in the direction of The Guardian's page (see the link above).
First of all, I liked the idea that you can make a small batch. If you don't like it, not a big problem, you are not surrounded by dozens of jars of preserves which are not to your liking. You get enough for two small Kilner jars.
Its ingredients include 5 mashed bananas, an onion, chilli, garlic, fresh ginger, turmeric and allspice, sultanas and cider vinegar, rum (I used Malibu), soy sauce, tomato puree and sea salt.
The recipe is very easy follow and doesn't take too long.

I made the chutney yesterday, and tried it today with a ham sandwich. Let me tell you, it's terrific. I am definitely going to make more of this chutney.
It will make a lovely Christmas gift too. It goes well with the ham, and I imagine will be great with any cold meat. Or with a cheese board. It might not be a looker: as you can imagine, mashed banana doesn't look especially attractive, but let not this fact deter you. It has a wonderful taste.
I wonder if I can prettify it slightly by adding chopped stem ginger instead of the grated fresh one.
If you're looking for a more unusual chutney recipe, look no further. This recipe is a keeper.

Best Banana Bread

In the morning after gulping his breakfast in one go my older son was forlornly looking around the kitchen, trying to find if any of the cake was left from the baptism day. I asked him if he wanted a banana cakey bread, and that I'd bake one when he is in school. He kissed me as a Thank you.
Bananas in the fruit bowl were turning spottier and more brown. At this stage, nobody fancied them. Yet they were perfect for the banana bread. I bake a very good banana cake, but was looking for a slightly different version. Of course, Pinterest is full of The Best Banana Bread recipes. I have adapted the recipe for banana bread found on BBC Food.

Banana bread
Ingredients:
3 very ripe medium sized bananas
175g caster sugar
2 medium eggs
1tsp baking powder
a pinch of salt (optional)
285g self-raising flour
1tsp vanilla essence
1/2tsp ground cinnamon
2tbsp ground hazelnuts
2tbsp Greek style yogurt, topped up with milk to make 70ml liquid
120g butter, melted
for the icing mix 4 heaped tbsp of icing sugar with lemon juice
decorate with banana chips

Mash ripe bananas with a fork and mix with the caster sugar. Beat two eggs in, add the baking powder and a pinch of salt. Add flour, cinnamon and hazelnuts. Keep stirring. In a measuring jug top up two tablespoons of yogurt with milk and add to the cake batter. Finally add the melted butter. Mix well and pour into a greased bread tin.
Place the tin in the oven preheated to 180C. Bake for 50+ minutes. Check with a wooden toothpick if it comes clean. If the bread is not quite ready but started to brown a bit too much on the top, cover the tin with the foil and bake for another 10 minutes or so.
Once cooked, let it cool a bit before taking out of the tin.
Mix the icing sugar with enough lemon juice to get a medium runny consistency and spread over the banana bread. Decorate with banana chips.

I usually bake with Anchor butter, which is my staple for cake baking. If it's a cake, it has to be butter in our household. I think I had enough of margarine baking in my childhood. This time I wanted to try President butter (I received a voucher for a free pack in the last Degustabox). I do buy President cheeses but don't remember if I have tried their butter before. It's creamy and smooth, and worked very well in baking. I used an unsalted butter.

Typically I would add a couple of tablespoons of ground almonds when I bake my cakes, but this time rummaging through my kitchen shelves, I could only find a pack of ground hazelnuts. This pack has clearly been at the back for quite a while. I tried the nuts, and they tasted just fine, so in they went instead of the almonds. As that definitely counts as part of a kitchen clearout, I'm adding this recipe to #KitchenClearout linky on Madhouse Family Reviews hosted by inventive Cheryl who is as bad "organised" as me when it comes to kitchen shelves. Well, actually she is much more organised than me. I mean it without inverted commas. How about a box of flavoured coffee which is 12 years old? I keep it for sentimental reasons. One day I will open it, and it will be an experiment.

The theme of this month #SimplyEggcellent linky run by Dom at Belleau Kitchen is breads, pastries and puddings, and I'm joining in with my banana bread.

Abel and Cole Superb Souping Box

If you decided to observe Lent and go meatless, soups are certainly an answer to a question What to cook? Lenten recipes don't have to be bland and lacking in flavour. If you are running of ideas though, you might consider getting a Superb Souping Box from Abel and Cole. I have been a customer of A&C for a few years, on and off, skipping some weeks altogether, or ordering for a few weeks in a row.
I love soups, and was very curious to try their recent addition to fruit & veg boxes - Superb Souping boxes. which are different each week. So far I have tried two of them (the third one was delivered just yesterday, and I'm cooking one of the soups today)
Soup boxes come with a selection of vegetables, fruit, herbs and spices as well as recipes for three wholesome soups.
To give you an idea on what to expect, have a look inside the box. The first Souping box I ordered had ingredients for 3 delicious soups, all vegetarian. The recipes suggested cooking a Winter Pho, Spanish carrot soup and Bay beet borscht. I cooked the first two soups and used the vegetables for the 3rd soup in a different dish, but I will use the recipe one day.

Winter Pho was a delightful hearty fusion soup, a mix of English and Vietnamese flavours: leeks, carrot, mushrooms and watercress were cooked with chilli, ginger, garlic, star anise, juice and zest of lime and tamari. The addition of zest and juice of a whole lime made it extra special. It was easy to make and tasted delicious. A real winner.

Winter Pho

Spanish carrot soup was a pureed soup variety, vibrant, colourful and zesty. I love carrot soups, and usually add some orange juice to it. This recipe asked to roast the carrots first. Cook the red pepper, cut into strips, with an onion, garlic and chilli. Add smoked paprika, zest and juice of one lemon and cumin seeds. Smoked paprika adds an extra warmth to the soup. It was great comfort food.

Spanish carrot soup

The second box had ingredients for Moroccan chickpea soup, Mushroom and rosemary soup as well as Parsnip, Banana and lime soup. It's the last soup that totally sold it to me. I haven't tried those flavours together in soup before, and was very curious.
Abel & Cole themselves say in the recipe "Banana in a soup may sound a bit bonkers. Trust us - it works, and adds a creamy, velvety depth". I am so glad I gave it a go.
Parsnip, banana and lime soup might not have been a looker, but oh boy, it was so good. I am definitely keeping the recipe to use in the future. It uses 2 parsnips, onion, red chilli, garlic cloves, turmeric, zest and juice of 1 lime and a banana. You have to try it.

Mushroom & rosemary soup is a classic soup, with a twist, as it included an apple as one of its ingredients. These are the ingredients which went into the soup: a punnet of mushrooms, celery, onion, garlic cloves, carrot, balsamic vinegar and rosemary. I usually add a potato or some rice, when cooking a mushroom soup, and it was the 1st time I tried it with an apple.

The earthy flavours of mushrooms were enhanced by the fruity note from an apple and rich acidity from balsamic vinegar. It was an interesting recipe, but I still prefer to add a potato instead of an apple.

Mushroom & rosemary soup

The last of the three was a Moroccan chickpea soup, another colourful dish with lots of flavours going on.

Moroccan chickpea soup

As I was editing the photos for this post, a new soup was simmering on the cooker from my 3rd Superb Souping box - Watercress, Salsify and Crispy Garlic Soup. Black salsify looks quite ugly, like a dirty rough-skinned carrot. But under that rough skin there's a delicate soul. I have tried it before, in a salad (see my old post Black salsify and wild mushrooms warm salad)

Black salsify

The soup recipe included onions, carrot, black salsify, celery, juice and zest of one lemon and watercress, with garlic thinly sliced, fried and scattered over the soup. Very flavourful and quite unusual. I liked the addition of crispy garlic, though I think the delicate salsify is a bit overwhelmed by the peppery watercress and garlic. Still, top marks to A&C for developing varied recipes every week. I still have to cook two more soups - Bloody Mary and Asian apple beet soup.

Each soup box costs £12.50 plus delivery. It includes all ingredients, from vegetables to fruit, from herbs to spices and sauces.

Have you tried a Superb Souping Box?

Watercress, salsify and crispy garlic soup

Disclaimer: I haven't been asked to write about soup boxes. All products have been purchased by me.