Banana Bread #8

Banana Bread #8 has been deleted from the experiment. On reading it a little closer it is a recipe for a cake. So somehow it snuck into the list while I wasn't looking.

There are now four recipes left to taste test so I better have a look in the bottom of the freezer for some bananas as there haven't been many left to grow old in the fruit bowl lately.

#9 is a recipe using golden syrup
#10 is one of the most popular recipes from www.taste.com.au
#11 is from a little cook book of newspaper columns
#12 is my 'wild card' and is called banana parkin and contains oats.

A parkin, according to Wikipedia, is a soft cake made with oatmeal and molasses, originating in Northern England and most often associated with the area around Leeds.

Banana Bread #7

This recipe is from an older Women's Weekly cook book. It was selected as being a 'regular, traditional' style recipe.

I've used this recipe before and once again had the same problems with it, hence the quest for the best banana bread.

Nice looking as it comes out of the oven

But here is the problem, cakey at the top and dense and almost undercooked at the base.

This cake came out of the oven slightly too brown on the top. The recipe suggested an hour but I took it out at 50mins. The recipe also suggests icing the cake. When cut, it was cakey and moist at the top, but quite dense and almost undercooked at the base. It tasted better when buttered. The butter just added that little bit extra.

The Recipe

125g butter, chopped
1t vanilla
1/2 C caster sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 C mashed banana
1 1/2 C SR flour
1t bicarb
1T milk

Grease a 14 x 21cm loaf tin.
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl of an electric mixer
Beat at low speed until combined, then beat at a medium speed until mixture is smooth and has changed colour
Spread mixture into prepared pan and bake in a moderate oven for 1 hour
Turn onto a wire rack to cool.

So I still have the problem of the cooked top half and the stodgy undercooked bottom half - but only with this recipe. Interestingly this recipe is the only one that uses a free standing cake mixer. All the others are mixed by hand and this one also has bicarb and SR flour, like the previous one, but no smell of bicarb overload - interesting.

Score 6/10

Looks Good, Shame About the Taste

I had high hopes for banana bread # 6.


It looked great coming out of the oven, it made a large cake so ideal for the family, but ugh!, it tasted just revolting. The bicarb taste was so strong this cake smelt and tasted like fish!

It looks great straight out of the oven

Good texture inside.

The Recipe

2C SR flour

1t bicarb

1t ground nutmeg

1/2 C brown sugar

3/4 cup chopped walnuts (not used)

1 C milk

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1C mashed banana

1T raw sugar

Preheat oven to 180C

Grease and line a large loaf pan

Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl

Stir in sugar (and walnuts)

Combine milk, eggs and banana and stir into dry ingredients

Spoon into prepared tin

Sprinkle with raw sugar

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean

Stand 5 mins before turning out onto a rack to cool

Slice and serve fresh or toasted with butter or jam.

This one went straight into the bin. I was so disappointed as it looked so good. I wonder why they added the bicarb when the recipe had SR flour? If there is a next time, and I would like to try this one again as it was a good sized loaf, I might leave out the bicarb and maybe use buttermilk or yoghurt in place of the milk.

Score 3/10