Moist Banana Cake

   This recipe comes from www.this-is-irene.blogspot.com .  Another one of my favorite dessert foods.  Banana's!

Moist Banana Cake

Another easy everyday cake recipe today! To be honest, I didn't make it, I've still been pretty busy so mum's been doing the baking lately. This is just one of her specialty, when it comes to foolproof cakes, she's the boss, I prefer trying new recipes and ticking my to-do baking list even if it means some boo-boos on the way rather than stick to old favourites. Yes, I'm a fearless, courageous, risk taking young woman haha. So today, it's a super moist, non-crumbly banana cake. On her recipe book it's titled "exquisite banana cake", I think she got it the recipe from a friend but well, if it has "exquisite" in the title, must be something pretty special right?

Another little secret: I only got the chance to photograph it on the second day, because it was pretty gloomy the day she made it. And by the time I opened the box to see the precious cake models for the day, shock-horror, they were already cut up in slices and in halves! This was quite upsetting because I had spent the whole of the night before on my bed thinking about how I should arrange the loaf before going to sleep. You know those moments just before you go to sleep and you just think about nothing or things that happened that day, and things you hope will happen in the near future? So yeah, for me, it was all about banana cakes that night. But luckily, I pieced them together skillfully and hid cuts with some shred of brown paper bag and dressed it up with some pink bakers twine I bought at Etsy. No one would've known it was already cut up right? 

Mum also made one loaf with sultanas and the other without. If you want the sultana ones make sure you coat the sultanas with flour before folding them into the batter to prevent them all from sinking. Feel free to jazz it up with some nuts too, I'm sure walnuts and pecan would make it even more delish, if you're a nut-person. And how I wish I had fresh flowers blooming in my garden that I could just pick a few to enhance the setting for the shoots. Too bad I don't, heck, I don't even really have a white tablecloth, I just use a big sheet of white cardboard and sometimes when I need to, patch it up with some white A4 papers. Teehee, you didn't know that either. Man, alot of secrets are being revealed today... So anyway, in trying to make the setting interesting, I just made some iced chocolate (which yes, I had to drink the 2 glasses myself because no one was willing to help) and added some paper dollies and grabbed my rarely-used-tea-cakes-forks. I always thought it was always too showy to look good in food photos but I think considering the banana cake was pretty simple, it's a good complement! I just need to go prop shopping, pronto.

Moist Banana Cake 

Makes 2 loaves

160g butter, softened

dash of vanilla essence

1 cup castor sugar (I used a mix of brown and castor sugar)

4 eggs

4 medium ripe or overripe bananas, mashed (to yield 1 cup mashed bananas)

200g sour cream (light is fine)

2 cups self raising flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. all spice

1 tsp. ground nutmeg (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 180'C and grease 2 lined loaf tins with butter
2. Cream butter, sugar and vanilla until thick with a handheld beater
3. Beat in egg, then sour cream and banana in medium speed until well incorporated
4. Add all the dry ingredients to the mixture and mix slowly with a wooden spoon or spatula
5. Bake for 40 mins until golden brown and skewer comes out clean

I know everyone probably already have their own favourite banana cake/bread recipe. But if you don't or haven't tried a version with sour cream in it, I'd encourage you to try it out! It's super moist, and definitely moreish and filling. Perfect for brunch with some yoghurt or afternoon tea!

I can't believe tomorrow's friday already AGAIN. I've only got 2 more exams left so after next wednesday, I'll be totally free freee freeee to bake whatever I want. Knowing that just feels great! See you later! x