Recipe 

250g caster

250g peeled ripe bananas, sliced

50ml rum or water

2tsp vanilla essence

175ml sunflower or veg oil

50g butter

2 eggs

150g plain flour

75g rye or wholemeal flour

2tp mixed spice

2 tsp baking powder

1/2tsp bicarbonate of soda

50g plain yoghurt

75g chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Caramel Topping

100g caster sugar

25g butter

75g double cream

Pinch of salt

1. Butter a 20-22cm deep cake tin and line base with grease proof paper.
2. For the cake, Weigh out 150g caster sugar into a small heavy bottom pan and place on a direct heat and allow it to caramelise. You can stir it with a spatula once it starts to colour to make sure there are no lumps in it.
3. Once it has reached a nice dark colour then add the rum and then the sliced bananas, butter and vanilla. Stir over a lower heat until the bananas have broken up into smaller pieces. Then cool down by tipping onto a tray.
4. Whisk oil, remaining caster and eggs to a nice thick emulsion.
5. Sieve the dry ingredients together adding back any bran. Then mix the banana caramel into the egg mix followed by the flours.
6. Spoon into cake tin and bake at 170c, for 35-40 minutes.

For the caramel topping

Make a direct caramel from the sugar, add the cream, followed by the butter and salt. Pour onto the cooled cake to glaze it.

Top tips…..

Caramelising the bananas in this way makes a really nice rich and light cake and it really boosts the flavour

Don’t skimp on the baking powder and make sure its in date. Bananas are alkaline when ripe which can cause a dense and heavy cake.