Banana cake – For the factory owners!

One double strawberry cheese cake with a main entry and a calamari recado - that would be a typical dinner order for Nirmal. The desert always comes first – doesn’t matter if it is an eat-in, a buffet or a delivery order – the desert always comes first!!!

And of all the bad qualities he brought with him (from my MIL – who else!!!) this one – tag named CHOLESTROL, he treasures a lot. He is always telling me stories about how rich his mother’s cooking was – ‘Ela Ada’ with ghee and sugar, 3-4 egg omelet’s a day (customized to order), coconut curry, coconut fry and even a strip of coconut with jaggery after lunch and dinner every day….and oops forgot – add, nothing_to_do_the_whole_day to that list…mothers pamper their sons so much that all they are expected to do is eat and sleep!!!

So what do I end up marrying into – a CHOLESTROL FACTORY!.

But whether you call him, a cheesecake factory or a cholesterol factory…or whatever factory…I have in 3 years, finally learned to be the factory manager.

So I try my best to substitute all his favorite foods with the low-fat, low-cholesterol ingredients. Sometimes they work and other times they get set aside for guests with children – just kidding!!!

So here is a recipe that works – bread (cake, muffin) that you can make aplenty for your kids & husband and not worry that they will start their own factories!.

THINGS U NEED:

• All-purpose flour - 2 cups
• Cinnamon powder – 1 ½ tsp
• Nutmeg powder – 1 ½ tsp
• Baking powder – 1 tsp
• Baking soda – 1 tsp
• Salt-1/8 tsp
• Bananas – 1 cup ( approx 3-4 banans peeled and coarsely mashed )
• Vegetable oil/ corn oil – ½ cup
• Milk – ¾ cup
• Egg – 1
• Sugar – 1 ½ cups (reduce according to the sweetness of the bananas)
• Vanilla essence - 1 tsp
• Golden raisins – ½ cup

METHOD:

• Preheat the oven to 350° F. Sift all the dry ingredients together and keep it aside. In a bowl, mix oil, sugar, milk, egg and whisk till the sugar is dissolved. Add vanilla essence to this…now add the sifted dry ingredients and gently mix .add the mashed bananas and golden raisins to this and fold it gently. Don’t over mix the batter as it become mushy. Transfer the batter to a greased baking pan and sprinkle the top with some raisins and cinnamon powder (optional) bake in the oven for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.Cool the bread in the pan or a wire rack.

NOTES:

• You can make a square cake , a round cake, two 9"/5" loafs or muffins with the same batter.
• The secret to a great tasting banana cake is to use fully ripe bananas.
• Don’t mash the banana into pulpy consistency as it causes cake to become hard.
• If u want, u can substitute the milk by adding ½ cup milk and ¼ cup orange juice for a different taste .
• Wrap the cake in foil/wax paper and refrigerate .The cake tastes better when it is refrigerated.

U can also try Inji's banana nut bread. And shaheen's banana nut muffins.