Upside down banana cake

The reasons why we decide to prepare a recipe are so varied. I was once asked about what drives me. It is difficult to pinpoint. This time I was driven by a present. I have this wonderful girl friend that lives in Japan and she sent me a pair of really beautiful mugs. I wanted an occasion to have my first cup of English breakfast in them. Flicking through the latest issue of Olive, the magazine, I came across this lovely cake. I cannot resist banana in cakes. In Brazil they are terribly popular. Bananas are fairly abundant and popular commodity. Once you bake with bananas you understand why they are favoured. There is some sort of magic alchemy that happens to them in the oven and they become little wonders.

This cake is dead easy, and does not take long to get ready. I used currants instead of sultanas because I had none in the house. Rum was also not to be found so I used vodka instead. Once the cake is ready and you open the oven door there is this most beautiful smell, a smell of the sweet baked banana…I then got my kettle to boil and finally got to use one of my beautiful mugs.

A big thank you to my lovely friend Clarice for the lovely pressie, and I so wished she were here, drinking tea with me and eating cake away.

Ingredients:

100g sultanas

50ml rum

4 large or 6 small bananas

6 tbsp golden syrup

75g butter softened

100g caster sugar

1 medium egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

175g self-raising

60g pecan, chopped

• Soak the sultanas in the rum for 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 160oC/ 140oC fan assisted oven. Grease a 23cm13cm loaf tin and line its base with baking paper. Peel and cut 2 bananas in half, and mash the rest of the bananas.Pour the golden syrup along the base of the tin and cover with the banana pieces.
• Beat the butter and sugar until pale and creamy – about 3 mins. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat a bit more. Add the mashed bananas using a metal spoon, followed by the flour, nuts and raisin.
• Spoon the mixture onto the bananas, being careful not to move the bananas at the bottom. Bake it for 45mins or until cooked through – test with a skewer.
• Remove it from the oven and let it rest for 10min so the syrup soaks into the cake. Only then turn onto a plate and serve with crème fraiche or yoghurt.