Banana Cake

Although there are many recipes that fill me with nostalgia for my childhood, one that reminds me of my mother instantly is Banana Cake.  Often we would have Banana Cake waiting for us after school, for afternoon tea,  still warm from the oven.  My father has a wholesale fruit & vegetable business so you can imagine that it was often we had mature bananas in the house. This recipe is not a healthy ‘banana bread’, it’s a comfort food recipe, a sweet cake, with white flour, white sugar and yummy icing (frosting).  I make no apologies because there are times when one just needs to be spoilt and I don’t know about you, but often I crave comfort food, sugar, and any recipe that reminds me of my beautiful mother who sadly is no longer with us.

Ingredients

• 2 Cups Self Raising Flour
• 1/2 Cup butter
• 1 1/4 Cups sugar
• 1 Cup mashed banana
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon mixed spice
• 2 large eggs
• 125ml milk

• 1 packet of cream cheese (250g)
• 1 tablespoon butter
• lemon juice (to taste)
• 250g icing sugar

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer.
3. Add eggs, one at a time mixing well.
4. Add banana, flour, vanilla extract, mixed spice and milk, mix until well combined.
5. Place in oven for about one hour or until golden and an inserted skewer comes out clean.
6. For icing, beat together cream cheese and butter.  Add icing sugar until desired consistency and lemon juice to desired taste.  Decorate with lemon zest.