Banana and raspberry bread

As much as I love trying out new recipes, there are always times when I prefer to bake some of my old favourites. Especially if I’ve offered to bring dessert or cakes/baked goods to an event or a friends house. I want to know that I am making something that works and tastes great. This has seen me revisit a lot of my old favourites over the past few weeks including my citrus coconut cupcakes, chocolate and raspberry fudge brownies and raspberry crumble slice, meaning I haven’t had much new to blog about.

However, my freezer was starting to fill up with overripe bananas again. Never throw out an overripe banana. Place them straight in the freezer and they will be ready to use later in baking. They go black on the outside when frozen but inside they are still great to use for baking once defrosted. That way you always have very ripe bananas, perfect for baking, ready whenever you want to use them.

With that in mind, I was browsing through some Coles magazines on my iPad and noticed this recipe for banana, raspberry and macadamia bread. I’m loving having most of my cooking magazines on my new iPad. Most of them let me bookmark favourites to try and some like the Coles one (which is also free) let me email them to friends etc. The subscriptions are a lot cheaper than the print version and they don’t take up any space at home. I still much prefer to have actual hard copy cookbooks rather than digital versions on an ebook or tablet, but find the tablet perfect for magazines.

I was sure I had macadamias at home; however once I started the mix I discovered I didn’t so I just left them out (this is why I usually measure everything out before I start cooking, so I don’t get halfway through and discover a missing ingredient!). The result was still great, although the macadamias would add more texture. This is a really easy recipe to make and the end result is wonderfully moist, lightly spiced cake. A great breakfast or tea time treat! Banana and raspberry bread

Makes one loaf in a 12cm by 21cm loaf pan

Ingredients

• 1 cup of mashed (very) ripe bananas (approximately 3 or 4 if they are small) – if using frozen allow to thaw completely before using.
• ¾ cup caster sugar
• ¼ cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs – lightly beaten
• ¼ cup vegetable oil (or light olive oil)
• 1 1/3 cups self raising flour
• 1/3 cup macadamia nuts, toasted and chopped (optional)
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 125g fresh or frozen raspberries
• Icing sugar to dust

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160C fan forced (180C). Lightly spray with baking spray (or grease) a 12cm by 21cm loaf pan. Line the base and 2 long sides with baking paper, allowing for a bit of an overhang (this will make it easier to remove the loaf later).

2. In a large bowl, mix together the sugar and mashed bananas. Add the buttermilk, eggs and oil and stir until combined. Then add the flour, macadamias (if using) and cinnamon. Stir until combined and then fold through the raspberries.

3. Pour or spoon into the tin and smooth the top.

4. Bake in the oven for on hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean (it will also spring back if you touch the top). Remove from the oven once baked and leave to stand in the pan for 5 minutes before removing and cooling on a wire rack.

5.To serve dust with icing sugar. Can be served warm or cold.

Adapted from – Banana, Raspberry & Macadamia Bread – Coles Magazine iPad issue.