Weekend Cooking: Banana Bread

Last weekend I noticed that we had several bananas sitting in the fruit bowl that were heading into overripe territory, so I suggested to my husband that I could use them to make something. He was very keen so I thought I could use one of my normal banana recipes to make something, 

One of the earliest recipes I ever shared in Weekend Cooking was a version of banana bread which has chocolate in it and it is a recipe that I have made over and over, so my first thought was that I would make that again. Or I could make the banana cake with cream cheese frosting, because he loves cream cheese frosting. Or I could do the upside down banana cake. So many options.

My husband had a very specific request though. He just wanted banana bread. No choc chips. No frosting. Just banana bread that can be slathered with butter. 

That meant that I needed to go to find a new recipe, so I headed to my go to recipe website (Taste.com.au) and found this recipe. It just so happened that I was flicking through the free supermarket magazine and they had a feature on bananas and the same recipe was in there. If you ever need a sign that must be it!

This recipe was definitely a hit and it did look a lot like the picture! We will be having it again, I suspect as often as we manage to have overripe bananas in the house.

Banana Bread

2 cups (300g) self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup (220g) brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly whisked
1/2 cup (125ml) canola, vegetable or sunflower oil
1/2 cup (125ml) buttermilk
2 large overripe bananas, mashed
10g butter
1 small banana, thickly sliced lengthways
2 tsp brown sugar, extra


Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 10cm x 24cm (base measurement) loaf pan and line the base and 2 long sides with baking paper, allowing the sides to overhang. Combine the flour, baking powder and sugar in a large bowl.

Whisk the egg, oil, buttermilk and mashed banana in a large jug. Add to the flour mixture and stir to combine. Spoon into the prepared pan and smooth the surface.

Melt butter in a large frying pan over high heat. Sprinkle the cut side of sliced banana with the extra sugar. Cook for 1-2 mins each side or until caramelised.

Arrange sliced banana over the banana bread batter in the pan. Bake for 45 mins or until a skewer inserted in centre comes out clean. Set aside in the pan for 10 mins to cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack. Cut into slices and serve warm or at room temperature.

Weekly meals

Saturday: Bacon and mushroom baked risotto.
Sunday: Pulled beef brisket rolls with coleslaw 
Monday: Pasta Pomodoro
Tuesday: Nasi Goreng
Wednesday: Chicken Schnitzel, Mustard Mash, Asparagus, Zucchini and Dill salad
Thursday: Cheese Cransky with Curry Wurst Sauce, and Onion, Red Cabbage and Apple warm salad, pretzel
Friday: Smoked Pork Hock, Potato Rosti, Apple Slaw



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