This is the first time that I have ever made bread, never mind if it’s banana bread and not the one with yeast (the tricky ones). The yeast ones will have to wait for now coz as of now I am happily contented with the result of this banana bread. It turned out soft and deliciously flavourful. Thanks to such successes, I fall in love with baking all over again 😉 Another reason why I love baking are the aromas that fill the house…warm and comforting. Heavenly!
I had been avoiding baking this bread because of the cinnamon and nutmeg in it. No, no no…I love cinnamon in anything – desserts, snacks, cake, ice-cream…you name it! Unfortunately, not my husband and daughter; they passionately hate it!!! Can you believe that! Someone hating cinnamon is unthinkable to me? Anyways, to each his own… But I this time around I couldn’t resist the temptation. Hubby is travelling, so it was golden opportunity and I grabbed it with both handsJ I am so glad I made this bread!
Since baking it and between writing this post, I have polished off four slices already with the compoteJ and I am still trying hard to hold myself back…ha ha. The compote was like cherry on the cake. Although the bread is more of a snack but the addition of compote transforms this simple humble bread in to a very gratifying dessert.
Here’s what goes into it,
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup caster sugar
125 g butter
3 eggs
3 large ripe bananas
2 cups self-raising flour, scant (I used I cup plain flour & 1 cup wheat flour and added 1¼ tsp baking powder)
½ tsp nutmeg, freshly grated
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract (I used vanilla essence)
For the Compote
½ cup brown sugar
Juice of 2 oranges
Grated rind of 1 orange (I chopped it roughly and the taste and texture was great)
1 cinnamon stick
2 ½ cup strawberries, thickly sliced
To serve
Mascarpone or plain yoghurt
Whisk together the flour, nutmeg, cinnamon and baking powder. Keep aside.
Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius or 350 degree Fahrenheit and prepare a 9 X 4 ¼ inch loaf pan by lining it with parchment paper.
Beat the sugars and butter in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add egg, one at a time and mix in vanilla extract.
Coarsely mash the bananas and add to the butter mixture. Gently mix it in.
Gently fold in the flour until everything just comes together.
Pour the mixture in the prepared pan and bake until a skewer inserted into centre comes out clean (it took a little over an hour or me).
Remove the pan from the oven and allow it to sit for five minutes before removing the bread from the pan.
For compote:
In a pan, add all the ingredients except the strawberries and cook on a medium heat.
When everything comes to a boil, cook the liquid for two minutes.
Add the strawberries and return to a boil again and immediately remove from the heat. Decant the mixture in a clean non reactive bowl.
To Serve
Slice the banana bread and spoon over the compote and serve with whipped mascarpone or yogurt cream. (I used an equal of whipping cream and mascarpone, whisked them together till they became light and fluffy and then refrigerated them and let them sit for an hours before serving. This can be made a day or two ahead of serving and kept refrigerated.)
Adapted from ‘Party’ Cookbook.
Post linked to Katherine’s Blog Hop on Strawberries