INSPIRED BY SHEFFIELD'S SUN

Lemon n Poppy Seed Banana Cake

Time taken: 1 ½ hours

Ingredients: 2 tablespoons of milk, 2 tablespoons of honey, 100ml of vegetable oil, 2 bananas, 2 eggs, 2 teaspoons of lemon juice (or the juice of 1 lemon), 1 teaspoon of baking powder, 225 grams of self-raising flour, 25 grams of poppy seeds, & a few blobs of lemon curd.

Hi readers,

As I type, Sheffield is enjoying its fifth or sixth consecutive day of gloooooorious sunshine. Literally, readers, it’s been amazing. Total bliss. I very rarely get lucky with the sun. I usually hear about it afterwards once I’ve emerged from a 9 hour shift at work, but just this once it’s timed its appearance perfectly for my Easter break from uni! And I couldn’t be happier.

Tuesday? I was sunburned. Very much so. 2/3 hours in the garden with my iPod was all it took, and my friends and family were sort of alarmed. Wednesday? My sunburn had developed overnight. Dress shopping with my mum in Meadowhall was painful, and shop assistants were definitely alarmed. Yesterday? We met up with my grandma for afternoon tea (jolly spiffing) and, not wanting to alarm her, I threw on some unseasonal clothes to cover up the sunburn.

But TODAY? It’s almost definitely faded to tan. For real. So I’m back out in the sunnnnnnn and loving life. Readers, are you loving life?? Please say so. I hope you’re alllllll LOVING LIFE. Like sooo so much. Life’s for living and LOVING EVERY MINUTE.

Today, I said ta-ra to my mum as she’s off on a caravan holiday and I was like “CYA WHEN I’VE FINISHED UNI”. How incredibly weird is that??? We’ve almost finished! WEEEIRD. And then, once we’re all clear, comes the freedom, money, exciting times… all for me, please! Send ‘em on over.

For now though, and potentially for the last time (!!), I face the task of gathering my shit together and heading back up to the Toon for uni. Today’s bake came about, readers, because ALWAYS whenever I visit home healthy foods and vegetarian options pack out the fridges and the cupboards. And this is lovely. Very sweet of the fam. But I can never, ever eat it all. Never. And I hate waste! Remember the film Wall-E? Hmm.

So, today, I saw my dad’s fruit bowl was packed out with bananas. All a quality shade of brown (like me). And so I thought, right, Banana Bread. But then I thought nooo! Let’s get jazzy. And SO, as my dad’s a lover of all things lemon, I decided to try to blend together my classic Banana Bread with THE timeless Lemon n Poppy Seed Cake. And a wonder was born.

Here’s how to bake together one Lemon n Poppy Seed Banana Cake, in just ten easy steps…

1. Heat your oven to 180˚C. Grease either a loaf tin or a deep cake tin, and line with baking paper.

2. Measure 2 tablespoons of milk, 2 tablespoons of honey and 100ml of vegetable oil into a mixing bowl.

3. Peel 2 bananas onto a plate, and then take a fork and mash them to smithereens. Add your mashed banana to the mixing bowl.

4. Crack 2 eggs into your bowl, and then add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice (or the juice of 1 lemon) along with 1 teaspoon of baking powder.

5. Weigh out 225 grams of self-raising flour and chuck this into your bowl, on top of everything else.

6. Use a wooden spoon to mix all of your ingredients together until you have a smooth-ish cake mix.

7. Sprinkle around 25 grams of poppy seeds into your bowl, and stir into the cake mix.

8. Tip half of your mix into the greased tin. Spoon a few blobs of lemon curd about on top, and then tip the second half of your cake mix into the tin and smooth the surface of the mix using your spoon.

 

9. Safely transport your tin into the oven to bake for 1 hour, or until risen and golden. You’ll know your cake is baked when a knife jabbed into its centre comes out clean.

10. Run this knife around the edge of the cake to loosen it from its tin, and then tip out onto a wire rack. Peel off the baking paper and turn your cake the right way up. Leave to cool for at least 20 minutes, before you slice and munch your cake!

Easy peasy Lemon n Poppy Seed Banana Cake :)

 

Readers, this is a definite chuck-it-all-in-one-bowl affair. The best kind of recipe! And this recipe WORKS. So, my cake came out a tad well done on top, because I’d shelved it too close to the top of the oven. I recommend you leave your cake a lot of room to rise. And rise it will. But, other than the minor singe, this cake baked perfectly well! It rose, it turned a good colour, it baked to the centre. And it came out of the tin like a dream. Sounds too good to be true? Well it isn’t.

Readers, I was SORT OF nervous about how this cake would come out because:

A … I should have been using butter but didn’t have any. Oil was a risky substitute.
B … I also didn’t have sugar and so subbed honey in place of this. Very risky indeed.
And C … It’s a lot of flavours in one cake. A lottalotta them.

But, readers, I’ve tried some Lemon n Poppy Seed Cake and It. Tastes. Good. Like, quite like banana bread, but then when you hit any lemon curd it suddenly becomes lemon cake! That’s my best description. It’s little odd a blend, maybe, but SO MOIST. A roaring success, I think. At least in my books. And the Father Bear's  given this cake a glowing review! Readers, if the fam had a better use for brown bananas then they simply weren’t quick enough. And I doubt it.

What do you think? Have I tempted you?? Surely, taking two great cakes and fusing them into one is an inspired idea! Right? Or are you not convinced about Lemon Poppy Seed Banana Cake? Share your thoughts with me, readers. Otherwise, I’m calling this a triumph both for using things up and for subbing key ingredients!

Readers? Get your bake on, go on.

And experiment safely,

Hayley