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Saturday, July 9, 2011

Easy Banana Bread

and Apple Loaf Cake

For those  who follow my blog, you'll know that I post about doing my baking on a Saturday morning, unless I'm away for the day or weekend, then I do it during the week. 

I always bake two loaves of bread (one for us and one for Johan),  a banana bread and an Apple Loaf Cake. They are both baked in loaf pans, (I have two), at the same oven temperature and for the same amount of time.

I found both recipes on the Internet but cannot see the link for the banana bread recipe. The Apple Loaf Cake is a Nigella Lawson recipe. I've added a few extra fresh ingredients, such as grated carrot, mashed banana and dried apricots and it still - like the banana bread - turns out perfectly every time.

Banana bread (closest) and Apple Loaf Cake

Banana Bread
100g unsalted butter
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
4-5 small bananas (mashed)
1/4 cup natural yoghurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinamon
1/2 cup  walnuts, toasted (optional)

Preheat oven to 180 C and grease a 900ml loaf pan
Beat butter and sugar in a bowl untill creamy and fluffy
Add egg and beat until well combined
Add banana, yoghurt and vanilla and stir through
Sift together flour, baking powder and cinamon and fold into batter
Stir in walnuts, if using
Pour batter into loaf tin and bake for 1 hour or until skewer inserted in centre comes out clean
Cool in pan for 10 minutes, turn out onto cooling rack
Serve butter if desired

Apple loaf cake - Nigella.com

Dry ingredients
300g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinamon
200g raisins or any chopped dried fruit of your choice

Wet ingredients
150g melted butter
150g soft sugar
2 eggs
4 medium apples, grated (1 use two apples, 1 large carrot and 1 banana)

Method
This is a wet/dry cake method. Place all wet ingredients in one bowl, dry ingredients into another, then mix together
The easiest way to grate an apple, is take a whole apple, grate skin until you reach near the pips. Turn apple around and grate until you only have the middle bit left
Mix ingredients together by hand to avoid lumps forming
Pour batter into 900g loaf tin, bake at 180 for 60 minutes
A skewer should come out clean when inserted in middle of loaf
Turn out onto cooling rack
Serve with butter

Enjoy!


11 comments:

  1. They both look delicious, Jo... YUM---eat a bite for me. Okay????
    Hugs,
    Betsy

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  2. Yummy, Im going to try these as soon as our bananas don't cost A$17.oo !!! @ kilo.

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  3. The loaves look great Jo! I like to make loaves myself but haven't made any for some time. Closer to the Fall I will start again :-) Have a wonderful weekend.

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  4. Oh, they look delicious! Thank you for the recipes, Jo! I will definitely make them sometime soon!

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  5. I have bananas in the freezer so will try your recipe which is a bit different than mine. Thanks.

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  6. They both look super, Jo. Dick often buys too many bananas at a time, and I struggle through eating them after they turn black, so I should be baking instead.
    Thanks!
    Luv — K

    Kay, Alberta, Canada
    An Unfittie's Guide to Adventurous Travel

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  7. Your are a star, Jo! Your baked goods always look so delicious and you make it sound so easy to do. I used to love baking and found it therapeutic. That has changed and now I find it a chore! Perhaps you will inspire me to try again and drop the attitude :)

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  8. For some reason I couldn't upload the pictures but the recipes sound delicious!

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  9. They look good! I'm always happy to find new ways of making fruit loaves.

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  10. I always love the smell of fresh hot bread coming from the kitchen! Need some help eating them? I'll be right over. ☻

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  11. Looks delicious, you should open a bakery ! I have never baked anything in my whole life, lol !
    Look at Toby on my blog !

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Thank you for visiting my blog and taking the time to leave a comment. I appreciate your feedback. Jo