HomeFOOD & WINEThe Banana Bread Brigade

The Banana Bread Brigade

Comfort comes in the shape of a loaf. Lockdown has seen everyone baking, and the most popular bake appears to be banana bread. The Get It team has joined the Banana Bread Brigade.

Each of our Get It editors has shared her favourite recipe … from our Bloemfontein editor’s loaf with blueberries, to the Pretoria editor’s which has cream cheese frosting, from the recipe from our Joburg North editor (who admits she’s a disaster in the kitchen and had to call on a colleague’s mum for help), to our Joburg West editor who gave us her recipe which includes peanut butter and Nutella, here are 10 recipes to add to your collection. Ready … steady … mash bananas and bake!

MELLISSA BUSHBY – EDITOR, GET IT LOWVELD

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This is a recipe from Mellissa, who published it in her first book, and is, she says, absolutely delicious. “It’s an old family recipe, adapted because we are vegan, and the glaze or icing is substitutable, as are the nuts. This recipe also makes fab muffins.”

Gelyn’s Banana Cake

Ingredients

2 cups cake flour; 2 tsp baking powder; 1 tsp salt; 1 tsp ground ginger; ½ tsp each of cinnamon and ground nutmeg; ½ cup chopped pecan nuts, almonds or cashews (or a mix, basically whatever you fancy); ¼ cup vegetable oil; ½ cup sugar; ¼ cup apple sauce; 3 ripe bananas, peeled and mashed; 1 tsp vanilla essence; ½ cup water; icing snow or cinnamon sugar for dusting (optional), or see glaze recipe, below;  Pecan halves for decoration, optional.

Method

  • Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and flour a 20 cm cake tin or medium sized Bundt tin.
  • Stir the flours, baking powder, salt and spices into a mixing bowl. Stir in the nuts.
  • In a separate bowl or blender, whisk the oil and sugar together. Add the apple sauce, banana and vanilla and blend, ensuring there are no lumps.
  • Add this to the dry ingredients, folding in and mixing until combined, but do not over mix.
  • Add a little water, if necessary, for consistency. The batter should be thick, and just pourable.
  • Pour the batter into the cake tin and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the centre comes out clean.
  • Turn onto a wire rack and allow to cool before lightly dusting with icing sugar.

Glaze

½ cup treacle sugar; 2 tsp cinnamon; 2 Tbsp cake flour

Method

Place the sugar, cinnamon and flour in a saucepan and bring to a simmer. Turn off the heat and when cooled, drizzle over the top of the cake. Place pecan halves on top of the glaze and enjoy!

 

WANDA DALY – EDITOR, GET IT BEREA/HIGHWAY/DURBAN NORTH

“This banana bread recipe has been handed down in the family and is a favourite Sunday tea time treat”.

Banana Bread

Ingredients

1  3/4 cups sifted flour; 2 teaspoons baking powder; ¼ teaspoon bicarb; ½ teaspoon salt; 1/3 cup butter; 2/3 cup sugar; 2 eggs beaten; 1 cup smashed ripe bananas;
Optional: ½ cup coarsely chopped nuts (walnuts is what I use) or 1 cup finely chopped dates

Method

  • Heat oven to 180C
  • Sift together flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt. Cream butter and sugar gradually until light and fluffy. Add eggs, beating well. Add flour mixture alternately with mashed bananas, small bits at a time, beating after each addition until smooth.
  • Turn into greased pan and bake until firm to touch and golden brown.

If you’re using either the nuts or dates, fold these into the batter.

 

SUANNE ENGELBRECHT – EDITOR, GET IT BLOEMFONTEIN

“I decided to change up an old faithful recipe base (from my granny’s Kook En Geniet) and add some blueberries to the basic banana bread. This just gets better with time … you can store it in fridge for about a week. Then make another one! Enjoy”.

Banana Bread with Blueberries

Ingredients

1 cup sugar; 2 cups flour; 1/2 cup butter; 2 eggs; 4 bananas; 1 cup blueberries; 1 tsp vanilla essence; 2 tsp baking powder

Method

  • First mix the sugar and butter until creamy. Add vanilla. Add eggs one by one (mixing well after each one)
  • Add dry ingredients and mix. Add mashed bananas and mix. Add blueberries (if using frozen, coat them in some flour before adding, so they don’t sink to the bottom).
  • Pour into a greased bread pan and put in oven (180°C) for 50 to 60 minutes. Watch it from 40 minutes onward … it should be nice and crispy on the outside and soft on the inside (test with a clean knife).

Serve warm or cold, with a spread of salted butter.

 

RIALIEN FURSTENBERG – EDITOR JOBURG WEST

Rialien’s shared a recipe her late mum used to make . It has Nutella in it. Swoon!

Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Ingredients

2 eggs; 375ml mashed bananas; 125ml plain Greek yogurt; 125ml creamy peanut butter; 5ml vanilla essence; 80ml sugar; 80ml packed brown sugar; 425ml cake flour; 10ml baking powder; 1,25ml bicarb of soda; 2,5ml salt; 75ml-90ml Nutella; 80ml chocolate chunks

Method

  • Preheat the oven to 180°C. Spray a loaf pan with non-stick spray. You can line the bottom with parchment paper leaving an overhang the sides so you can lift the bread easier from the pan. Set aside.
  • In a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, bicarb of soda and salt, set aside.
  • In a large bowl beat the eggs just a few seconds. Add Greek yoghurt, peanut butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla and combine. Add mashed banana and mix to combine, do not over mix the batter.
  • Add dry ingredients mixture and stir until just combined. The batter will be thick.
  • Spread 1/3 of the batter in the bottom of a loaf pan. Drizzle with 2-3 tablespoons of Nutella. Spread another 1/3 of the batter, drizzle again with 2-3 tablespoons of Nutella. Spread the remaining batter, swirl with the knife, smooth the top and sprinkle with milk chocolate chunks.
  • Bake for 50-60 minutes or until the toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean.
  • Let it cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Loosen the edges with the knife and transfer the bread to a rack to cool completely before cutting.

 

DANIELLA GRAHAM – EDITOR, GET IT JOBURG NORTH

“Disclaimer: I am the absolute worst in the kitchen … so thankfully our workflow and studio manager’s mum has a terrific banana bread recipe she’s been baking for years. While I’d probably burn down the kitchen if I tried baking it myself, I urge you to try your hand at it and post pics of your masterpieces on our Get It Joburg North Facebook page before you tuck in.”

Banana Bread you just can’t Beat

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour; 1 teaspoon baking powder; ¼ teaspoon salt; ½ cup butter; ¼ cup brown sugar; 2 eggs, beaten; 2 and 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas; ½ cup coconut or ½ cup raisins (optional)

Method

Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Lightly grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together the butter, brown sugar and the option of either coconut or raisins. Stir in eggs and the smashed bananas until well blended. Combine the banana mixture into the flour mixture, lightly stir and transfer batter to the prepared loaf pan. Bake in preheated oven  for 60 to 65 minutes. To test if the bread is ready, prick the load with a toothpick and it should come out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack. Enjoy!

 

INA GOUWS – EDITOR, GET IT JOBURG EAST

‘Here is a banana bread that’s different from all the others and it’s delicious. The recipe is from our Boksburg chef, Bruce Fowler.’

Banana Butterscotch Bread

Ingredients

3 large eggs; 400g sugar; 303ml oil; 3 ripe bananas; 80ml buttermilk; 15ml vanilla essence; 420g cake flour; 5g baking powder; pinch of salt; 30g desiccated coconut; 60g nuts (Macadamia or walnuts chopped but not too fine)

Method

Heat oven to 180 °C. Grease two loaf tins or a round 20cm cake tin. Whisk together eggs, sugar, oil, bananas, buttermilk and vanilla essence. Sift together cake flour, baking powder and salt. Mix together with wet mixture and add coconut and nuts. Pour mixture into baking tins and bake 30 to45 minutes. Test before removing from the oven. As soon as the bread has been taken out of the oven, pour over bubbling butterscotch and leave in pans to cool.

Butter-scotch syrup ingredients

100g brown sugar; 80g unsalted butter; 60ml cream

Method

Place all ingredients in a saucepan and heat gently until the sugar has dissolved and bring to boil. Do not over boil.  Pour hot syrup over bread when just removed from oven and still hot.

 

LEAH SHONE – EDITOR, GET IT BALLITO/UMHLANGA

“My fave go-to banana bread recipe is one I’ve been using since Erica Platter launched her first cookbook, East Coast Tables. Erica is North Coast local, John Platter’s (wine guru) wife and I love this”.

Granny Harriet’s Banana Bread

Ingredients

100g Butter (1/2 cup); 1 cup sugar; 2 eggs; 1 tsp vanilla; 4 bananas, mashed or blitzed; 2 cups flour; 1/2 tsp salt; 2tsp baking powder; 1/2 tsp bicarb; 1/2 cup milk

Method

Cream butter and sugar and eggs (adding one at a time), beating thoroughly. Add mashed banana and vanilla essence. Beat mixture. Sift in flour, baking powder and salt. Mix bicarb and milk and add gradually while gently stirring mixture together. Pour mixture into a well-greased loaf tin. Bake for an hour at 180 deg, or when done. Turn out when slightly cooled.

 

CARINA VAN DER WALT – EDITOR, GET IT JOBURG SOUTH

Carina’s favourite Banana Bread recipe is from Huisgenoot

Banana Bread

Ingredients (enough for a medium sized banana bread)

6 medium sizes ripe bananas; 12.5ml lemon juice – fresh is always best; 275g (500ml) cake flour; 15ml baking powder; 2ml salt; 200g (250ml) sugar; 150g (250m) finely crushed peanuts; 2 eggs (separated)

50g (60ml) butter – melted; 5ml grated lemon zest

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees, and prepare bread pan for baking

Peel bananas and mash – mix with lemon juice. Add flour, baking powder and salt and mix together

Add sugar and peanuts – mix together.

Beat egg yolks, add to butter and add this to flour mixture – a little at a time while you keep on mixing. Add mashed banana and lemon zest. Beat egg whites and fold into mixture, then add mixture to bread pan;

You can add additional nuts or peanuts by sprinkling over the mixture before it goes into the oven. Bake for 60 minutes – if not ready you can bake for another 10 minutes.

 

SUNETTE VISSER – EDITOR PRETORIA GET IT

I like to serve this with a cream cheese frosting butter, the recipe for that’s at the end’.

Banana Bread

Ingredients

2 cups flour; 1 teaspoon baking soda; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 2/3 cup salted butter (softened at room temperature); 3/4 cup light brown sugar; 2 eggs; 1/3 cup Greek yogurt; 4 large ripe bananas (mashed); 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease a bread pan or coat with non-stick spray.  Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt, together in a large bowl. Mix the butter and brown sugar together on high speed until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the yogurt, mashed bananas and vanilla extract until combined. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until no flour pockets remain. Do not overmix. Bake for 50 to 60 minute. Test with a toothpick from 45 minutes onward every 5 minutes until it comes out clean.

Cream cheese frosting butter

Mix together 60gr (roughly ¼ cup) of softened salted butter, 1/2 tub of medium fat cream cheese and 1 cup icing sugar until smooth. Add 5 ml pure vanilla extract And blend well.

 

KYM ARGO – NATIONAL GROUP EDITOR

“Banana bread’s brilliant … but when I was sent a recipe for Banana Cake … well … swoon! Basically it’s a banana bread base, with a sweet crumb topping. Delish! It will, in most homes, last two to three days in an airtight cake tin … it tends to be eaten in one day in our home. I must admit I thought this was a really great recipe … but then I saw the one sent by our Joburg West editor, Rialien. It has Nutella! She wins.”

Banana Cake

Ingredients

Four over ripe bananas; half a cup butter; three-quarters of a cup brown sugar;  two jumbo or extra-large eggs; two teaspoons vanilla extract; two cups of loosely packed flour; one-and-a-half 1/2 teaspoons baking powder; half a teaspoon baking soda; half a teaspoon salt; one teaspoon ground cinnamon, half a cup buttermilk

Crumb ingredients

Half a cup brown sugar, one teaspoon cinnamon, three-quarters of a cup flour, one-third cup (about six tablesoons) cold butter; half a cup chopped walnuts.

Method

  • Make the crumb first. Mix the flour, brown sugar and cinnamon in a bowl, then cube the cold butter into small pieces and add, cutting in until it starts to make crumbs.  Keep chilled while you make the cake.
  • Heat oven to 180 °C..  Butter or spray a springform pan with non-stick cooking spray.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
  • In another bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar for about three minutes, then add the eggs, one at a time, and the  vanilla. Mash the bananas, then add them.
  • Carefully add the dry ingredients, alternating them with the buttermilk. Don’t overwork, you should mix until just combined.
  • Pour the batter into the pan, then top with the crumb. Finally sprinkle with chopped walnuts.
  • Bake for 50 to 60 minutes – for the last ten minutes you may need to cover the top loosely with foil to stop it from burning or going too brown. Test after 50 minutes … if a sharp knife comes out clean it’s ready. 
  • Leave in the pan on a wire rack for around half an hour … then cool before serving.
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