Banana Bread

It took a few years, but eventually I began to love the Banana. I had always loved banana milkshakes and those little foam banana sweets, man I ate a lot of them!

They started giving free banana's away at work, amongst other fruits, so I thought I had better get involved. I do like to collect them up, let them go mushy - mainly because I forget I had saved them - and then make some Banana Bread. It took a while to find the right recipe and I think this one based on Mary Berry's is close to perfect.

Ingredients. Use a 900g Loaf Tin

100g Butter, softened

175g Caster Sugar

2 Eggs

2-3 Ripe Bananas, more to taste

225g Self-Raising Flour

1 tbsp Baking Powder

1 tbsp Milk

1 Packet of Cooking Chocolate Chips

Method

1. Lightly grease the loaf tin and line it with non-stick baking parchment. Pre-heat the oven to 175°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4.

2. Measure all the ingredients into a mixing bowl and beat for about 2 minutes, until well blended; an electric mixer is best for this but of course you can also beat by hand with a wooden spoon.

3. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin and level the surface. Bake for about 45 mins, until well risen and golden brown. A fine skewer inserted in the centre of the cake should come out clean.

4. Leave the cake to cool in the tin for a few minutes, then loosen with a small palette knife and turn the cake out.

5.Remove the lining paper and leave on a wire rack to cool completely.

6. Slice thickly to smash the lot.