Tuesday, 19 September 2006

Jane Asher's Banana Cake With Peaches And Pears

Jane says: 'This wonderful-tasting, firm cake is also reasonably healthy.'

Ingredients

Butter and flour for cake tin
225g/8oz butter
225g/8oz caster sugar
3 eggs
340g/12oz Fairtrade bananas
225g/8oz plain flour
2.5ml/½tsp salt
1.25ml/¼tsp bicarbonate of soda
45ml/3tbsp yogurt
85g/3¾oz dried peaches, coarsely chopped
85g/3¾oz dried pears, coarsely chopped
Icing sugar or Crème Anglaise and dried fruits, to decorate (optional)

Method
Serves 12

1 Heat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Butter and flour a 20cm/8in square cake tin.
2 Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl, then add the eggs, one at a time, beating well.
3 Blend the bananas and whisk into the mixture in the bowl.
4 Sift the dry ingredients (flour, salt, and bicarbonate of soda) and fold in with a metal spoon.
5 Add the yogurt and the chopped dried fruits and fold in well. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake in the preheated oven for 1 hr or until a skewer comes out clean after being inserted.
6 Leave the cake to cool in the tin for 10 mins, then run a knife around the edge and turn the cake out on to a rack to cool completely before serving.
7 Serve plain, dust with a little icing sugar or even ice properly. This cake is also delicious spread with a little Crème Anglaise and decorated with pieces of dried fruit.

Recipe from A Fair Feast compiled by Vicky Bhogal (£9.99, Simon & Schuster UK).
For more info, visit www.simonsays.co.uk.

Always look for Fairtrade ingredients.