½ cup salted butter, at room temperature
1 cups + 2 tablespoons golden brown sugar (or half white or golden sugar and half dark brown sugar)
3 large eggs
4 ripe bananas (if bananas are small, use 5 instead of 4)
1 2/3 cup Italian organic 00 soft wheat flour
1 level teaspoon baking powder
Beat the soft butter with the brown sugar in a bowl until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Add the eggs–one egg at a time—and mix well before adding the next egg.
Mash the bananas with a fork and set aside for a minute while you sift the organic flour with the baking powder.
Combine butter-sugar mixture with the bananas, then add the organic flour mixture, continuing to mix until it is smooth and creamy.
Pour the cake mix into a floured and buttered loaf pan.
Bake at 350F degrees for about 45 minutes, taking care to check that it is cooked in the center (test for doneness using a bamboo skewer, a cake tester, or a piece of raw spaghetti. When it comes out, it should not have cake batter sticking to it).
Remove from the oven and leave it to cool.
Serve a lovely slab of the cake with a cup of tea, a mug of coffee, or a glass of cold milk.
A delicious, tender cake that is perfect for breakfast, or as an afternoon snack. Simple to make, it perfumes the whole house with the sweet smell of bananas and baking. It keeps for several days after baking; the next day, sliced, toasted and buttered, it may be even better!
Banana bread first appeared in the USA in the 1930s, during the “The Great Depression” when nothing was wasted, especially not the wholesome, tasty and nutritious banana. When it became overripe, housewives discovered one could mash them and bake them into a very tasty cake.
People loved it and banana bread became a modern American classic. In fact, a special day is set aside for it: “National Banana Bread Day” (February 23rd) but really, it’s wonderful whatever day of the year you make it. And it’s a beautiful, no-waste way to use up overripe bananas.
