Di-Nana's never fail Banana Cake Recipe

Isabella calls my mother Di-Nana (a mixture of Diana and Nana). This recipe is one of hers that I make over and over and it never fails despite my not very precise measurements.

It is good for cakes or made into muffins. I also add chocolate chips...as if it wasn't unhealthy enough as it was!

Isabella and I made a double recipe this time for John's birthday cake. The key to a good banana cake is old bananas...old brown squashy ones.

I used a smallish round tin and put baking paper up the sides (like in soufflé recipes) to make a really high cake.

The decorations were a compromise between what I wanted and Isabella wanted...I think she 'won' the compromise!

Banana Cake

115 grams of butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 mashed bananas

2 tbs milk

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup flour

1 tsp of baking powder

Cream butter and sugar. Add beaten egg, eggs and bananas and mix.

Heat milk and stir in soda, it will be froth up a little. Mix into butter, banana etc mixture. (At this stage I add chocolate chips...about 1/2 - 1 cup)

Sift in four and baking powder. Mix only until the dry ingredients are combined.

Pour into greased, lined baking tin or individual muffin cases.

Bake at 180 degrees for about 30 minutes or until a fork poked into the middle comes out clean.

Banana and Blueberry Muffins - recipe

One of the major reasons for writing this blog is to create an 'online recipe book' to pass on to future generations. My mother has the hand written recipe book my grandmother used, and since I'm not likely to handwrite anything, this has got to be the best option for me and my family!

This recipe isn't spectacular but it is a good dependable one that I use a lot. I got it from someone who made it dairy free - instead of butter there is oil and the milk was substituted with soy milk. It is also on a scrap of fading paper that has been stuck by magnet to our exhaust fan...so I really need to get it written down before I loose it forever.

Isabella (3) loves helping to make these, although the helping is more me finding ways to keep her occupied while I quickly make them...putting muffin cases in pans, mashing banana etc.

I use really old brown bananas (the look like they should have been thrown away), often frozen that way - I struggle to throw out food and bananas don't go in my compost or work farm. The blueberries are usually frozen and just stirred in at the end of the recipe.

I usually make a double recipe and freeze lots of them. They defrost well.

Banana and Blueberry Muffins

2 cups of flour (1 of while, 1 of wholemeal works well)

3/4 cup brown sugar (I love demerara dark brown sugar)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp of baking soda

1-2 bananas (ripe)...I usually use two to get the fruit content up

1/2 cup oil (vege oil)

1/2 - 1 cup milk

Mix flour, b-powder, b- soda and sugar.

Mash banana, add banana and oil into dry ingredients.

Add milk to moisten.

Carefully stir in blueberries.

Bake at 200 degrees c for 15 - 20 minutes.