Banana and Cinnamon Loaf

I was not intending to bake today but as I was cleaning my kitchen it occurred to me that I still needed to use up the last of my bananas.  They were looking very ripe at this point and since I would be busy over the weekend making a cake and attending a party, today was really the only day I could do it.  Not like I had anything else to do aside from the laundry and this ended up being a pretty simple bake.

I had asked the fiancé what he would like earlier in the week, since he would be the one who actually be eating it.  He sort of shrugged and said, "Banana bread?".  Well, why not?  I know I made banana bread cupcakes quite recently but I thought it might be nice to make an actual loaf.  

My original plan was going to be to ask the fiancé's Mum for the recipe that she uses for banana bread, since I know he likes that one.  I never got around to it asking for it though.  Ah well.  Instead I decided to raid my books and see what I could find.  Mary Berry was my first pull from the shelf and ended up being my only one, since she had a nice, simple recipe that looked perfect.  I even got lucky with certain ingredients, like the flour, and had just the right amount needed.  Clearly it was meant to be.

I also decided to spice things up a little, literally, by adding some cinnamon.  I had read banana and cinnamon go well together and the fiancé does like cinnamon.  Admittedly, it is another one of those things he was a bit sceptical of when I talked about the idea but where's the fun in playing it safe?  Not that adding cinnamon is particularly wild but oh well.  I decided to do it as a layer of cinnamon sugar running through the centre of the loaf with more sprinkled on top, rather than mixing cinnamon into the batter itself.  So I guess it's a little bit like a cinnamon bun in a way.  I didn't have as much cinnamon as I wanted to put in but I've put what I would have used in the recipe.

The fiancé really liked it and is currently scoffing it down.  He says the cinnamon isn't very noticeable though, despite the fact that you can see it and smell it.  I put that down to not having enough in the sugar mix though.  Like I said, I've upped the amount in the write-up. 

Recipe - adapted from Mary Berry's Baking Bible

• 2 ripe bananas
• 100g/3.5oz butter
• 175g/6oz caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 225g/8oz salf-raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 75g/2.5oz granulated sugar
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 and grease and line a 23x10cm/9x4inch loaf tin.
2. Mash the banana in a large bowl.
3. Add all the ingredients except the granulated sugar and cinnamon and then beat until smooth and there are no lumps of butter.  You can do this by hand but I would recommend an electric whisk.  It makes things much easier and the mixture ends up smoother.
4. In a small bowl, mix together the granulated sugar and cinnamon.
5. Spoon half the mixture into the loaf tin and use a spatula to smooth it over.
6. Cover the exposed batter with a layer of cinnamon sugar.
7. Spoon in the rest of the batter and smooth over.  Sprinkle with the remaining sugar.
8. Bake for about 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
9. Allow to rest in the tin for a few minutes before turning it out, removing the greaseproof paper and letting the cake finish cooling on a wire rack.