Sunday 19 July 2015

Banana and golden syrup cake


  
I had some bananas sitting around in the kitchen feeling generally unloved.  Mr CC won’t touch a banana once it’s past that green, starchy stage that makes your teeth squeak, so they were headed for the compostables bin until I found this recipe.  It’s from the BBC Goodfood site but I’ve made a tweak and substituted golden syrup for the maple syrup listed in the original recipe.  We’ve tried to love maple syrup but just cannot – it’s that background smoky taste that we struggle with; probably because like any good child of the 1970s/80s we were raised on steamed golden syrup sponges and that has fixed our expectation as to what syrup should taste like!




This is an upside down cake and the bananas bake at the bottom of the tin in golden syrup.  When you turn the cake out you add some more syrup and can then either serve it warm with custard for dessert, or as a tea time treat at room temperature.  It definitely has a stronger banana taste when warm, so that’s the way to go if you ‘need’ a good strong hit of banana!




This recipe makes a handsome size cake – perfect when you have many guests to feed.  My one tip with upside cakes is that it’s always best to turn them out the tin when they’re hot/warm – not only because it’s easier to peel the paper off the fruit at the bottom, but also because if your cake has domed while cooking it settles down nicely when still warm to give a stable, flat base.  If you turn it out when cold the shape is fixed and it will look like a spinning top (or a Beyblade, if you can picture one...maybe that’s too obscure a reference!)




The cake keeps fine but just be aware that over time the bananas lose their colour and look a bit grey.  No impact on the taste but not quite so appealing to the eye!





Ingredients

8 tablespoons golden syrup
3 ripe bananas, and 1 very ripe banana
100g unsalted butter, at room temperature
200g light muscovado sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
200g self raising flour
100g ground almonds
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
200g natural/Greek yoghurt


Method

Preheat the oven to 160C/fan oven 140C/325F/gas mark 3.

Line a 20cm square cake tin with baking paper.

Drizzle four tablespoons of golden syrup over the bottom of the tin.

Slice the three ripe bananas (either in rings, or in length) and place evenly in the tin.

Mash the very ripe banana and beat it together with the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until well combined.

Fold in the flour, ground almonds and bicarbonate of soda.

Fold in the yoghurt.

Spoon into the tin – take care not to move the sliced bananas around in the bottom of the tin.

Bake for 45 mins – 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Let the cake settle for 10 minutes before turning it out onto a wire rack and inverting it (i.e. the bananas are now on the top).

Using a skewer, poke some holes into the cake between the bananas.

Drizzle over the remaining four tablespoons of golden syrup.

Serve either warm for dessert with custard, or on its own at room temperature with a cup of tea.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.


10 comments:

Angie's Recipes said...

This banana cake looks to die for!

Hello said...

Looks gorgeous, maple syrup does getting some used to, especially when you only ever have golden syrup for puss (loved treacle tart) x

Snowy said...

A great way of using up bananas. Looks very tempting.

Anonymous said...

I went off bananas when I was pregnant, but you may have just tempted me to try them again. How long do you think it would keep for, assuming it is not consumed entirely as soon as it is made? 😊

Maggie said...

Golden Syrup is a wonderful ingredient and paired with bananas is a winner for me.

The Caked Crusader said...

Hi PicklePieMama

It will keep a good 4-5 days as it is so moist; however, the bananas will start to grey after a day or so and it makes it less visually appealing.

Happy baking

Baking Addict said...

That looks like my kind of cake as I love banana cakes and golden syrup. Definitely need to try this for myself as I've never had a banana cake like this and I can just imagine the taste. Yum!

Jo said...

Yummy, bananas and golden syrup are an awesome combination. For a quick pudding sometimes I microwave sliced banana with a large spoonful of syrup and eat it with ice cream! I'll need to try it baked in a cake like this next.

Gluten Free Alchemist said...

I love making upside-down cakes. They always look so pretty when they are first turned out and taste great too. Never made a banana one though.... May have to give it a try. I bet they would be great in mini individual cakes too.

Choclette said...

It's true, golden syrup takes me straight back to childhood and it just wouldn't feel right if there wasn't a tin in the cupboard.