Saturday 19 May 2012

Blueberry Banana Cake


I had an excess of very ripe bananas in my kitchen recently - bought for another recipe and it then turned out that I didn't need quite as many as I had thought I would. It had got to the stage of being able to enter the front door of the house and the banana smell hit me - I didn't even need to go into the kitchen! It was time for the bananas to be used up in cake. 


And although it's not blueberry season here in the UK yet, and won't be for a number of weeks yet I imagine, it must be blueberry season in Spain because the imported blueberries in the supermarkets are now being discounted from their expensive winter prices to something approaching affordable. After such a long time without soft fruit it is a treat to buy them to savour. A few remaining ones found their way into this cake. 


Blueberry Banana Cake
Ingredients
90g butter, softenend
120g light muscovado sugar
2 medium eggs
1 well ripened banana, mashed
150g self raising flour
55g blueberries
demerara sugar for sprinkling

Method
- Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, flour and banana and beat well until combined.
- Spoon into a lined 8" (20cm) cake tin (I used a preformed liner) and dot the top with the blueberries.
- Sprinkle with demerara sugar and bake for 35-40 minutes until a cake tester comes out with only a few crumbs sticking to it.
- Allow to cool.
- Eat!


Really, really delicious. I love the combination of bananas and blueberries and this cake was a complete hit, both with me and with my work colleagues too. I sometimes find that banana cakes can be (bear with me, as this sounds slightly dim) overwhelmingly banana-ry. I do enjoy eating bananas, and like their flavour, but the flavour of a banana loaf can sometimes be almost too intense, and the texture verging on wet rather than moist and light. This is a different kind of banana cake; a banana containing cake. The moisture from the banana is there, but the cake is light and the flavour is more subtle, whilst still being present. The blueberries add a welcome burst of juicy fruitiness and their own subtle flavour isn't too overwhelmed by banana. I think I'd fold through an additional handful of blueberries into the actual cake batter next time, to see if they float or sink. Oddly, the little strands of red that you usually get in banana cakes were absent here, perhaps there wasn't enough banana for them to be noticeable, or perhaps it's to do with the composition and maybe pH of the cake. Who knows, and to be honest, when it's this delicious who really minds anyway!



A perfect balance. Here it's all about the cake; with a lovely crunchy demerara sugar topping no icing is necessary. I can see more cakes like this on the horizon and I'm sure it would work well with raspberries too. I'm entering this into Javelin Warrior's 'Made with Love Mondays' promoting making things from scratch. Well, not only is this made from scratch, I've made the recipe up too!


15 comments:

Joanna @ Zeb Bakes said...

mmm that could even tempt me! And I am not a banana fan The blueberries sound like the perfect combo :)

claire said...

Hey joanna! I had to comment on this one - banana and blueberry is indeed a lovely combination; up there with honey,peanut butter and the ubiquitous chocolate...not such a fan of cinnamon though. Guaranteed to be thinking on various 'nana pairings all night now! Wonder what Segnit's thesaurus thinks (que frantic scrabbling)...so an inspiring post!
Currently obsessed with bananas in all forms anyway - just tucked away some coffee beans for THAT pairing - been driving me wild.
And tbey're so healthy too :-)

Unknown said...

fab recipe! Going to try it tomorrow as we have bananas that we need to use and always have blueberries in the fridge. Might chuck in a few bits of chopped up Snickers bar too :)

Ax

Jacqueline Meldrum said...

Mmmmmmmmm lovely. I am thinking warm custard :)

Kate@whatkatebaked said...

I too was tempted by the Spanish blueberries in the supermarket earlier- they are currently sitting in my fridge as I wonder what to bake! Thank you for the inspiration- I'll definitely book mark this recipe for when I have a glut of bananas!

Baking Addict said...

I love the combination of banana and blueberry! Well done for creating your own recipe! It looks delicious.

Katie said...

That looks lovely and wonderfully light. Love how the blueberries are just peaking through the top. Not tired blueberry and banana together before but sounds yummy

Unknown said...

bananas and blueberries, that's a lovely combo... bet it was sweet and moist... I find banana cakes just so satisfactory! ... looks pretty too!

Suelle said...

This sounds a delicious combination - unfortunately 50% of the people I bake for won't eat bananas. The fools!

The Caked Crusader said...

That's a combination I've never seen - it looks great. Fruity cakes are always my favourites

Javelin Warrior said...

I've never made a blueberry or banana cake before - let alone one that uses both! I'm impressed you took the initiative to not only bake it from scratch, but also to create the recipe yourself. That's awesome and I'm so glad you decided to share with Made with Love Mondays...

Johanna GGG said...

lovely cake - I understand what you mean about banana cakes tasting too much of banana - I like some banana in cake or a smoothie and occasionally eat one when it is just ripe but I find them too strong when overripe and this sometimes is there in the cakes too!

Choclette said...

Oh I like the double B and I can imagine blueberries would work really well with bananas. It looks a fabulous cake and teh crunchy topping sounds most enticing.

Unknown said...

Two quick questions. I want to make this for my son's first birthday because he loves bananas and blueberries!
Could I add more blueberries (I want it to look like a choc chip cookie (sesame st themed party)?
I'm in Australia, do you know what else that sugar in it goes by the name of (maybe castor?)
thanks looks yummy!

Caroline said...

Hi Lynleigh, I guess you could add more blueberries - I can't guarantee they won't sink though! I think the sugar you should be looking for is light brown sugar or soft light brown sugar. It has more of a molasses flavour than caster sugar and is softer and sort of sticks together in clumps a bit. I don't think muscovado is widely available in Australia, but a soft brown sugar will be fine. Hope the party goes well!

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