I photocopied this recipe in one of the Women’s Weekly cookbook, but I can’t remember which one…
Super easy to make, keeps well and freezes well too.

1 1/3 cups (200g) self-raising flour
1 cup (150g) plain flour
2/3 cup (150g) firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup (40g) dessicated coconut
1 ½ cups mashed banana (about 4 large-920g bananas)
3 eggs
2/3 cup (160ml) vegetable oil
1 teaspoon coconut essence
1/2 cup (25g) flaked coconut

Method:

1. 1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 14cm × 21cm loaf pan; line base and sides with baking paper, extending the paper 5cm over sides.
   2. Sift flours into a large bow; stir in sugar, desiccated coconut and banana, then combined eggs, oil and essence until just combined. Spread mixture into pan; sprinkle flaked coconut on top, pressing down lightly.
   3. Bake bread for 1h20 minutes. Leave in pan for 10 minutes before turning, top-side up, onto a wire rack to cool.
   4. Eat!

I added some chocolate chips to the mixture. I just wanted chocolate!
It took 1h30 minutes to cook at 160°C in fan-forced oven.

On the train between New York and Washington DC. USA.

The Highline. New York, USA.

Madison square park. New York, USA.

This was a special treat for a memorable birthday last year…
Central Park. New York, USA.

Coney Island. New York, USA.

The Cloisters. New York, USA.

I found this recipe in a French magazine. Savoury cakes (cakes salés) are very popular in France. And this is DELICIOUS! I have made it since using artichokes.

180g flour
15g baking powder (or 1 sachet de levure chimique)
3 eggs
100ml milk (10cl)
100ml olive oil (10cl)
4 tablespoons nigella seeds (graines de nigelle)
200g feta, cubed
150g semi-sundried tomatoes (tomates confites), chopped
100g speck or bacon (lard fumé), chopped
pepper

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/ 160°C fan-forced.
2. Beat the eggs with the milk and olive oil. Combine the flour and baking powder. Pour the  egg/ milk/ oil mixture into the flour and mix until smooth.
3. Add the feta, tomatoes, bacon and nigella seeds to the batter. Season with pepper (don’t add salt,  the feta and bacon will be enough).
4. Pour the mixture in a greased and lined loaf tin. Cook 1hr.
5. Eat!

Nothing to add really! Get baking!

My friend Bec recently told me about a cake she made using a Bundt cake tin. Just the name is fancy enough to make you want saying it aloud lots of time. Bundt Bundt Bundt!!
I have one here that I have never used. So this recipe was perfect to activate my inner Bundt!
The recipe come from Simmone Logue’s cookbook “In the kitchen”.
If you don’t have a Bundt tin, use a round 25cm cake tin or two small loaf tins.
It’s super easy to make. It will serve 12 (it makes a huge quantity!).

4 free-range eggs
500g caster sugar
zest of 2 lemons
2 tablespoons lemon juice
375g Greek-style yoghurt
240ml vegetable oil
400g self-raising flour
pinch of sea salt

Method:

1. 1. Preheat the oven to 170°C. Grease a 24cm non-stick ring (Bundt) tin.
   2. Put the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, yoghurt and vegetable oil in a bowl. Mix together, using a hand whisk or electric mixer.
   3. Sift the flour and salt together, add to the egg mixture and mix until smooth. Pour the batter into the cake tin.
   4. Bake for an hour, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly, before removing from the tin.
   5. Eat!

I greased the tin and floured it. I started using a small hand  electric mixer, but it was quite messy. So use a good whisk or like me, put on your to-do list a trip to Ikea and buy an old-fashioned manual hand mixer. It may be a bit hard with a whisk.
I was worried the batter would overflow, but no, it stopped just at the limit of the tin.
I cooked it at 150°C fan-forced for 1h10.
I would add more lemon zest to give it more humpf.
And a week after, it’s still moist and yummy.

And you can make a glace icing with fresh thyme if you want. Gently heat 2 tablespoons of lemon juice in the microwave, or in a small saucepan on the stove. Combine with 125g icing (confectioners’) sugar, mixing until smooth, then drizzle the icing over the top of the warm cake. If making the cake a day ahead, store it in a cake tin. Garnish with fresh thyme leaves just before serving.

I have recently sorted (again!) my sweet recipes. In an over the top way…Like folders for cakes but subdivided into cakes, loaves, slices…
And sometimes I want to bake something without having to use butter ( at this time of the year when it is cold, butter doesn’t soften quickly…). So I went to my “Loaf cakes” recipes and found this one. Super easy to make, with some adjustments. And no butter.

1 cup mashed banana (about 2-3 ripe Cavendish bananas)
3/4 cup caster sugar
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup olive oil
1 ¹/3 cups self-raising flour
1/3 cup macadamia nuts, toasted, chopped
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
125g fresh raspberries
1 tbsp icing sugar, to dust

Method:

1. 1. Preheat oven to 180°C or 160°C. Grease a 12cm × 21cm loaf pan. Line the base and 2 long sides with baking paper, allowing the sides to overhang by 4cm.
   2. Combine the banana and sugar in a large bowl. Stir in the buttermilk, eggs and oil. Add flour, macadamias and cinnamon. Stir until combined. Gently fold through the raspberries.
   3. Spoon into prepared pan, smoothing the top. Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Stand in pan for 5 mins, then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.
   4. Dust with icing sugar.
   5. Eat!

I had macadamias in my cupboard, but I realised there were too old and would have given a bad taste to the cake. So I replaced them with pistachios. I used frozen raspberries.
I also replaced the cinnamon with 1 tspn of vanilla essence and I added 1 tbsp of dessicated coconut.
It took 75 minutes to bake in my fan-forced oven.