Banana cake is a great simple way to use up those overripe bananas that despite best efforts, we almost always get left with.

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I eat a banana every day so i buy quite a few each week, but some how they go from perfect to black in the blink of an eye. I hate to throw any thing away.

They are actually at their best for cakes when they are black, and have a better more intense favour.

I would only recommend using very ripe/over ripe bananas for a cake. The riper they are the better.

You can help them along a bit by putting them in the oven. Read food 52 article on it here to see how.

Banana cake

I have made so many banana cakes before, but i adapted them slightly to fill this larger tin.

This one is a relatively simple one for me, no fancy flavours, just the addition of some dark chocolate and chopped hazelnuts.

I used some creme fraiche as i had some that needed using, but you could make a swap for sour cream.

This cake requires three and a half standard sized bananas or 3 large ones.

I made it with some whipped very soft butter this time, but its also fantastic with some whipped cooled brown butter.

Add ins

Chocolate and hazelnuts are always a great combination, but you can change things up, or keep it plain.

Milk or dark chocolate works well, and any nuts you have like walnuts or pecans. Sesame seeds work well too.

I used a bar of dark chocolate and chopped it up very finely, but chocolate chips or larger chunks are fine too.

Spices like cinnamon are great in a banana cake, you could add 1 tsp.

This can be made in a large loaf tin, or two smaller ones.

The cake is best eaten in the first few days, but we like to toast it and have it with butter, so that helps it last a bit longer.

It have haven’t tried toasted banana cake before i highly recommend it.

Place slices of banana bread under the grill to toast.

You can then dust it with some powdered sugar or spread on some butter, or do both.

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Note on the recipe

I measure my ingredient with weighing scales and used grams. To convert it to cups i used this cooking conversion chart.

I cant guarantee the cup conversions are accurate.

To toast the hazelnuts- place in a dry pan and gently toast for a few minutes.

My Non stick method

Bundt tins can be a bit scary to bake in, as sometimes the cakes can stick when you try and turn them out.

I brush the tin well with melted butter, being sure to cover the entire surface and in all the corners.

Then i sift in some flour and shake it around to coat the inside of the tin, then tap it to remove any excess flour over the sink. The tin then goes into the fridge so the butter can harden up again while i make the mixture.

To remove the cake from the tin in one piece, i let it sit in the tin for 15 minutes, then i carefully turn it out on to a wire cooling rack.

I dusted it with icing sugar, but you could make a glaze if you are not planning on toasting it.