Bananas. Natures' energy bar. Every walk begins with a banana and a shot of strong coffee, usually taken in the car or mooching around wherever I've happened to park. I've tried carrying the fruity wonder up hills in a variety of containers but that just feels like wasted space and failure to put it in any kind of container is just asking for trouble. The BananaGuard was never an option btw. Carrying something shaped like a big plastic cock just doesn't appeal.
By far the best solution that I've found is to turn the fruit into cake. The recipe below was shamelessly nicked from Andi Peters, former childrens' TV presenter and a bit of a whizz in the kitchen. All credit goes to him, beautiful man that he is :o)
Ingredients
- 125 g butter, plus extra for greasing
- 150 g light soft brown sugar
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 3 very ripe bananas, mashed
- 250 g plain flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
To serve
- peanut butter
- whipped cream
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4 (160C/gas 3 for fan-forced ovens). Grease a 1kg-capacity loaf tin and line the base with baking parchment.2. Beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy and pale in colour.
3. Beat in the eggs, a little at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Add the bananas to this mixture.
5. Sift the dry ingredients together with a pinch of salt and then fold gently into the banana mixture. (It is important to fold the dry ingredients in gently until just incorporated, rather than simply stirring.)
6. Transfer the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 50-60 minutes or until a skewer placed in the middle of the cake comes out clean and dry.
7. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. (Resist cutting it for 30 minutes or it might crumble.)
It'll keep for a few days but I've found that it rarely makes it past day 2 :o)
Comes out looking a bit like this:
Goes down a bit like this:
JC Seal of Approval
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Spread a bit of peanut butter on for some extra calories. And in case you're wondering, the title of this piece comes via The Singing Kettle and their cover of Bananas are the Best.
Bananas, bananas, bananas are the best
A soft squidgey middle in a big yella vest
Today or manyana, ah'll be sayin ‘Can ah,
Can ah have a ba-na-na?’
As hiking songs go, there are worse.
