Banana Bread and Cream Cheese Frosting

For all of you who are new here, let me just introduce to you what happens round this time every month (and also do a little happy dance and extend the warmest of wishes and hellos that you are even here in the first place!). The Cake Slice Bakers are a group of bake loving maestros who choose a book and bake cakes from said book.  

This month is no exception... March has just flown by and in a frenzy of wedding cakes and birthday cakes and all other bakes, the choice for this month had to be simple! World Class Cakes by Roger Pizey is just  a wonderful book to bake from with different skill levels catered for on every page. While I thoroughly enjoy the idea of challenging myself, March was not the month for that. 

Thus the humble, yet spectacular Banana Bread was baked. I made two minor adjustments to the recipe, one because I didn't have the ingredients to hand and two because I seriously love the Cream Cheese Frosting from the book and thought it'd make a fab pairing with this recipe. Even with my adjustments the bake was a huge success. One taster remarking it was 'the best thing ever' and 'are you going to finish your piece, or will I?' (after his third piece)!!!

Needless to say, there is no excuse for not using up your ripe bananas in what is the easiest bake ever and then enjoying said bake with a big vat of tea, throwing your feet up on the sofa and regaling in your baking prowess.  

Banana Bread- 

adapted from World Class Cakes pg 65

125g soft butter
125g caster sugar
2 large eggs
225g self raising flour
50g ground almond
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
125ml butter milk
2 ripe bananas mashed

Preheat your oven 180C/350F or Gas Mark 4.
Line a 9 inch square pan with some parchment.
Mash the bananas in a bowl.
Add the sugar and butter into bowl and mix with an electric mixer until pale and creamy. Add the eggs and mix. Whisk the flour, ground almonds, baking powder and baking soda together and add to the wet mix. Fold through.

Add the milk and the mashed bananas and mix until fully incorporated. Transfer to your pan.

Bake in your preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, until the top is golden and crusted or a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clear.

Allow to cool in the tin for at least 15 minutes, before removing to a wire rack to cool fully before slicing.

Cream Cheese Frosting 

260g icing sugar

80g unsalted butter, softened

40g cream cheese

Beat together the butter and cream cheese. On a low speed add in the icing sugar, a small bit at a time. 

Mix on medium speed until it comes together. (You could add a little milk if you’ve reached a too stiff consistency.) Keep on mixing until soft and fluffy.

Once the banana bread has cooled, cut them up and swirl on the cream cheese frosting in a zig-zag pattern over each bar.  

I used an 8 inch tin when I made my banana bread bars.. and had enough for four cupcakes also.

I baked up the cupcakes as you normally would, rough chopped 5-6 stalks of rhubarb and stewed it for a few minutes until soft and gooey in 4 tbsp of sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla.

Once the cupcakes had baked and cooled, the rhubarb had cooled and I had opened a carton of store bought custard.. I layered the different components together in recycled yogurt jars. I had enough cupcake crumbs from one cupcake to use in one jar. Seriously easy way of using in season ingredients and making something so much more entertaining!

Need more baking inspo?? Seriously.. you couldn't get any better than the guys and dolls of The Cake Slice Bakers!

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