Whenever the kids ask me, “what’s your favourite fruit, Mummy?” the answer will always be, bananas! I’ve always been a fan of bananas, in fact anything banana – banana sweeties, banana puddings, banana hair products; I currently have a banana shower gel stood in my shower. So it’s really no surprise that one of my favourite bakes from Granny is her Banana Loaf.
It’s another one of those recipes that Granny can rattle off the top of her head without a second thought – probably because she makes it so much!
Always a popular choice for the mothers that Granny serves at the cafe she works in, with the reasoning that it’s a healthier choice of snack for the kids asking for sweets. I suppose I can see the logic (fruit = healthy, right?) but given the amount of sugar that also goes in Banana Loaf alongside the 1-of-you-5-a-day bananas, it’s perhaps not the healthiest snack there is.
Made this banana loaf. It was so simple to make & absolutely delicious; even my husband who doesn’t like banana loved it!
Let’s just forget healthy for a moment though and appreciate how delicious and moist this Banana Loaf is. Compared to lots of other banana bread recipes I’ve tried, this one is pretty straight forward too – why make something more complicated that it needs to be, especially when simple means so good in this instance!
Because it’s so easy, the kids love getting involved in baking it too. My boys love nothing more than finding a slightly brown banana and waiting for it to become overripe, knowing it’ll soon be time to mash it into a Banana Bread batter.
Granny’s Top Tips
♥ The riper your bananas, they better the flavour! I don’t make Banana Loaf nearly as often as I’d like because banana’s don’t last long in our house but the brown spotted, or even completely black bananas will always give you the best banana loaf.
♥ Banana loaf can also be frozen. Make in batches, keep within it’s grease-proof lining, wrap in tin foil and freeze for up to a few months.
Banana Loaf
Ingredients
- 2 Bananas (ripe)
- 140 g Caster Sugar
- 55 g Butter/Margarine
- 1 Free-range Egg
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 170 g Self-raising Flour
- 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
Instructions
- Pre-heat your oven to 190°c (170°c for a fan-assisted oven or Gas Mark 5) and grease & line a 2lb loaf tin with grease-proof paper.
- In a large bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Add the sugar, butter/margarine, egg & vanilla extract and mix until combined.
- Gradually sift in the flour and baking powder, mixing until all combined.
- Pour into your pre-lined loaf tin and smooth into the corners.
- Bake in your pre-heated oven for 40 minutes until golden on top. Leave to cool in the loaf tin before serving in slices.
Free-from & Vegan
Banana Loaf is a fantastically versatile recipe which lends itself well to be tailored for free-from and vegan diets.
Gluten-free: Simply switch out the self-raising flour for gluten-free self-raising flour.
Vegan: Use a dairy-free margarine instead of butter and a tablespoon of applesauce instead of an egg.
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Made Banana loaf it was so light and moist also empire biscuits were easy to make thay were also very good
Do you know what size the tin was?, can you reply to bjandu69@hotmail.com
2lb loaf tin
Hi, what course did you study at the Food Tech?.
Granny studied Breadmaking and Flour Confectionary in 1978 at Glasgow College of Food Technology.
Special I. Want !
Simply delicious, the perfect after school treat. Commenting as BritMums Baking Round-Up Editor. :)
This is a really good banana bread! Lovely and moist, will be using this recipe from now on! Thank you. Gave it an extra 5mins in oven.
Made this Banana loaf. It was yummy. Family loved it ❤️
Please could you include suggested cake tin sizes in all recipes.
Many Thanks
What size loaf tin did you use
What size loaf tin did you use? Thank you
Made this banana loaf. It was so simple to make & absolutely delicious even my husband who doesn’t like banana loved it
My nephew loved eating banana cake and also my family, so I used to bake this so much as well
other cakes.
Just made this today, absolutely gorgeous, all hail your granny
Love this! Don’t know if I’ll ever be able to rattle it off like Granny but I’ve made it enough times to get the gist of it without my usual half a shift reading a recipe!
Being Lactose Intolerent I can’t use butter which most recipes call for and every time I use an alternative to use banana bread it never turns out quite right, however with this recipe it was my first success and one of the best banana breads I have ever tasted.