My Very Simple Banana Cake Recipe

I have been getting so many positive comments about my banana cake that I thought I would share it with everyone on my blog (and maybe I won't need to email or print out copies for people any more, he he).  Technically, this is not my recipe, it is a recipe my mum passed to me and I have no idea who she got it from.  As usual, I have tinkered with the recipe a little; you can find my alternatives in the "tips".  I do promise you that whether you use my extra tips or just follow the original recipe, this banana cake is very yummy, very versatile and very easy to make.  The mini cupcakes below were made for miss 2's "birthday party" at playgroup and were very happily received by both small people and their mums!

Ingredients
2 cups self raising flour
1 cup caster sugar
1 cup oil
2 eggs
2-3 large bananas, mashed
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp mixed spice

Method

1.  Preheat your oven to 180C/356F (lower if you are using a fan forced oven).  Grease and line a cake tin.

2. Mix all of the ingredients together in a large bowl.  If you find the cake mix a little too thick, add a little milk or water to improve the consistency.

3. Pour your cake mix into your prepared tin and bake for 50-60 minutes (this will depend on your oven).

4. When cake is cooked, remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.

5. Ice the cake if you wish, but it is usually half eaten by this time at my place!

Tips

1. I like to add 1/2-1 cup of sultanas (raisins) to the mix since my kids love them so much.

2. I also normally add 1 tsp of vanilla essence to the cake mix.

3. If you do not have mixed spice, or do not like it, you can leave this ingredient out.  You could also substitute with a little cinnamon, clove or nutmeg powder (or a combination of the above).

4. If you want to get a little more fibre into your children without their knowledge, you could add a little wholemeal flour to this cake.  I sometimes add a 1/2 to 2/3 of a cup of wholemeal flour and reduce the amount of white flour respectively.

5. As you can see in my photo, this cake recipe is also great for making muffins/cupcakes.  Simply pour your cake mix into prepared muffin tins and bake for a shorter period of time.

6. One final adjustment, you can add less sugar and oil to the mix if you are wanting to watch your health (I would not reduce the amount of either ingredient by more than 1/3 of a cup).  If you add less oil, you might need to add some milk or water at the end to adjust the consistency of the cake mix.