Banana Cake

This cake deserves a mention of its own. It may be the usual never-fail Banana Cake we've baked at home for years, yet no one complains when this cake appears on the table at tea, and that's saying something in a household of finicky eaters. Something good.

Where Nigel's Black Banana Cake combines hazelnuts, chocolate and bananas for a rather delicious mouthful of cake, this one is really all about the banana. Unlike its counterpart, this cake is delicate, soft and pillowy. It won't cut as well as the other, so some amount of gentleness is required.  

Yet, this is one of the most perfectly sublime cakes I've ever had. This is not an all singing, all dancing cake. It's as plain as plain can be and there in lies its remarkable beauty. Despite this I am guilty of relegating it into the ordinary whenever a quest for the extraordinary takes over. 

Here in Malaysia, it is all too easy to scoff at a cake like this because the fruit and cake is readily available. Step into any neighbourhood sundry shop and you're likely to see a mass-produced, plastic wrapped version sitting on its shelves, but homemade it always better!

This recipe is what I use and slightly adapted from my Domestic Science Cookbook Resipi Harian.

BANANA CAKE

120g Plain Flour
1 Egg
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Soda Bicarbonate
90g Butter
90g Caster Sugar
1 tablespoon Milk
1 teaspoon Lemon Juice
3 - 4 ripe Bananas, mashed

Preheat the oven to 150 Celsius. Butter, flour and line a 20cm loaf tin. Set aside.

Sift Flour, Baking Powder and Soda Bicarbonate. Set aside.

Pour Milk into a small bowl and add Lemon Juice. Set aside.

Cream Butter and Sugar in a bowl until pale and fluffy with an electric mixer. Add in the Egg and beat well until combined.

With a spatula, gently fold in the Flour mixture until mixed through. Then, carefully fold in the Milk and Lemon Juice. Lastly, fold in the mashed Bananas. Ensure the batter is well-combined.

Pour batter into the prepared tin and bake for about 30 - 40 minutes or until a skewer poked through the centre of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the tin for about 20 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely.