A fantastically simple recipe that makes a big cake and also uses up any squidgy black bananas in your fruit bowl. It comes from Irish chef Carmel Somers ‘Eat Good Things Every Day’ which is an excellent beginners cookery book

170g butter, softened
170g sugar (I used unrefined caster sugar)
135g dark chocolate (see note below*)
280g self-raising flour
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3 large eggs
2 small to medium bananas (the black ones at the bottom of the fruit bowl that nobody wants to eat!)

You’ll also need a 1 kg loaf tin, lightly buttered - and lined with non-stick baking parchment if non-stick

Preheat the oven to 190°C/Gas 5 - 160°C in a fan oven

Place the butter in a saucepan and set over a low heat until the butter has melted. Add the sugar, giving it the odd stir. Turn off the heat, add the chocolate and melt that too. Mix the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda together, sieving the soda to avoid lumps. Beat the eggs and mash the bananas with a fork. Finally mix everything together in the saucepan, folding in well. Turn into the prepared loaf tin (see above) and bake in the oven for about 45 minutes. (Check the cake after about 35 minutes. You want it a little moist in the centre but not wobbly or sticky)

* I used a couple of 70% dark chocolate bars which weren'’t quite sweet enough. I suggest you use either chocolate Menier or Belgian dark luxury chocolate you find in the baking section of larger supermarkets. Or Fairtrade chocolate - and bananas - of course.

 

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