Banana Bread

When I was out celebrating Jakes graduation a couple of weeks ago we went to Turtle Bay for dinner. I've been there before for cocktails which are amazing I may add so I was excited to eat there. I had a jerk chicken salad as I am a wimp when it comes to spicy food, however since being with Jake, who has the hottest curry without flinching,  my tolerance to hot food has decreased and I can now have slightly more spicy food. I draw the line at eating fresh chilli though! That's still a work in progress. My salad was amazing! It had slices of mango and coconut between the leaves which gave a cooling and sweet element to the chicken. It also had a piece of watermelon on the board which again cooled the jerk down but also worked amazingly well together! I also ordered a side of sweet potato fries because they are my fav!

Why is this connected to banana bread? As much as it pained me I couldn't manage dessert! Foodie sin I know. So I tried some of Jake's mums banana bread which tasted so authentic and light I have been craving it ever since. You can imagine how delighted I was when there was bananas at home that were ripe and perfect for making banana bread. I added a few extra ingredients to give it a real Caribbean feel with a cheeky dash of Malibu and some cinnamon. It really does make all the difference. This bread will always remind me of how proud I was sat there whilst Jake walked down the isle as a graduate...Yes, I was a gushing girlfriend, guilty as charged!

I have adapted the bread to make it as light at possible as I find some banana breads quite heavy. With the bananas adding the sweetness to the cake the mixture requires less sugar than a normal bake which is great if you're looking to make something using a sugar alternative.

Ingredients
140g Butter
140g Caster sugar
2 Eggs
140g Self raising flour
1 Tsp Baking powder
2 Ripe bananas, mashed
2 Tbsp Cinnamon
1 Tbsp Malibu (Optional)

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C/Gas mark 4 and line and grease a 2lb loaf tin.

Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy and then add in one egg at a time with a little flour to avoid curdling. Fold in the remaining flour and baking powder and beat together for three minutes until well incorporated. Add in the mashed bananas, cinnamon and Malibu and beat together for a further three minutes.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for around 30 minutes until a skewer comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin before slicing. This is perfect with some vanilla ice cream.