Banana, walnut & sultana cake

I don't make banana cakes too often as I don't particularly like them. There's too many large, bland (and often dry) ones. Or else they have that slight stickiness and a none too pleasant banana smell about them. Instead I've been happier to freeze my ultra ripe bananas for smoothies instead for their luscious creaminess.

But there is one banana cake recipe I've always kept. Many moons ago one of the playgroup mothers made this cake and it's about the only one I've ever loved.  

It's not a deep, high-rise cake but sits low in the tin, is wonderfully moist, slightly spicy and has the crunchiness of the walnuts and chewy sultanas.  

Serve it as a cake but it's just as good straight from the oven as a dessert with some whipped cream or vanilla mascarpone. I like to serve it with Greek yoghurt.

Banana, walnut & sultana cake

2 bananas, peeled and chopped
1 cup walnuts, quartered
1 cup sultanas
2/3 cup soft brown sugar
100g butter, melted
1 egg
1 cup self-raising flour 
2 teaspoons mixed spice

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Grease and line a 23cm cake tin.

Mix the bananas, walnuts, sultanas and sugar in a mixing bowl. 

Beat the egg and melted butter together and stir in to the banana mixture. 

Sift the flour and spices together then add them to the mix, stirring gently just to incorporate.

Bake for approximately 35-40 minutes or until the top springs back when pressed and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Salted Caramel Slice

I gave up lunch for these. Not because I was too busy baking to eat lunch. No, I was too busy snaffling a bite here and there that I figured the best thing in the world to do would be to call it lunch and move on. So I did. Sometimes you've just got to make those sacrifices.

This slice differs slightly from most caramel slices I've baked in that it uses polenta. This is clever as it gives a good crunchiness to the base.  The topping is fairly typical in its mouth-sticking caramel toffee but there's salvation to all that sweetness with the odd salty flake on top. No chocolate layer on this one but I didn't miss it.

The recipe came from the New Zealand Herald's website but wasn't attributed to anyone. Scroll down a bit and there's a jacket photo of The Cook & Baker cookbook (authors Cherie Bevan & Tass Tauroa) so I guess it belongs there and a quick look at the cookbook's reviews online seems to confirm this. The Cook & Baker is a Sydney based cafe and bakery with a Kiwi connection.

Even though I tried dipping my knife in boiling water before slicing I still ended up with rugged edges! Not quite the impeccably smooth look in their photo but they sure taste good. I went for smaller slices than stated and ended up with about eighteen pieces.

Trust me, this is a really good and easy to make slice. Here's the link to the recipe. 

Anzac Biscuits

A few years ago I made a slightly different version of these biscuits which you can find here. Today, I've stuck with the classic version. I was tempted to dip half the biscuits in melted chocolate but having just had two with coffee there really is no need for embellishment.

The biscuits were named after the Australia and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC) soldiers who fought in the First World War at Gallipoli and were given these long lasting biscuits from their loved ones back home. It was quite poignant to think of their history as I baked and listened on the radio to ANZAC stories on the eve of ANZAC day in New Zealand.

They are very easy to make and most of the ingredients you will have in your cupboard. If you don't have thread coconut, substitute with desiccated coconut but it is worthwhile sourcing the longer thread coconut - I think it looks nicer (and thread is easier to spell than desiccated).

ANZAC Biscuits

makes about 20-24 biscuits

125g butter
2 tbsp cold water
2 tbsp golden syrup
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup coarse thread coconut
1 cup standard flour
1 cup brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C.  Line two baking trays with baking paper.

Place the butter, cold water and golden syrup in a medium to large saucepan and heat until butter is melted and it is almost at boiling point. Add baking soda and remove the pan from the heat. Swirl the pan around to ensure baking soda is incorporated.  Add the oats, coconut, flour and brown sugar to the pan and combine well.

Roll tablespoons of the mix into a ball (I used a mini ice-cream scoop) and place on the baking trays, leaving enough space between the biscuits for them to spread. Press with a fork to flatten.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden. Swap the trays around half way to ensure even baking of both trays of biscuits.

Remove from the oven and leave on the tray for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

The biscuits keep well in an airtight container.