BANANA AND BLUEBERRY LOAF (and that sinking feeling)

I hate wasting anything and the sight of a couple of elderly bananas in the fruit bowl makes me feel guilty. If they’re past the eating stage then something has to be done with them. A browse through some of my cookbooks produced a Mary Berry recipe for BANANA LOAF from a book called “Simple cakes”.  (The recipe also appears in here more recent book, the Baking Bible.”)

The recipe didn’t have any blueberries in it, just bananas, but as they were also looking slightly tired I decided to put a handful into the mixture to make a banana and blueberry loaf.

It was definitely simple to make and it turned out looking exactly like the picture in the book – which always makes me feel slightly chuffed.

I drizzled some icing onto it and scattered a few gold sprinkles on top just to jazz it up a bit. However, when I cut the first slice I was disappointed to find that most of the blueberries had sunk to the bottom.

Ah well, that will teach me to be so clever.  Perhaps next time I’ll leave the blueberries out, but it tasted lovely anyway. Here’s the recipe for

BANANA AND BLUEBERRY LOAF 

Ingredients

100g softened butter (I used spreadable butter from a tub)

175g caster sugar

2 eggs

2 ripe bananas

a handful of blueberries

225g self-raising flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons milk

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line a loaf tin.

Mash the bananas then put all the ingredients except the blueberries in a large bowl and mix together for about 2 minutes until well blended – an electric whisk or mixer is best for this. You can beat with a wooden spoon but for a little longer.

Add the blueberries and combine until evenly distributed.

Spoon the mixture into the loaf tin, level the top and bake for about one hour until well risen and golden.

Cool in the tin for a few minutes, then remove and peel away the paper. Leave on a wire rack to cool completely.

Decorate with icing and sprinkles if you feel frivolous.  Otherwise just cut a large slice and enjoy with a cup of tea !!

Cuts into 10-12 slices.