Magnificent, evil, easy as ... is this the best banana cake ever? By Liane Arno
EACH Sunday we have been in the habit of going over to Hitch’s place with Mum to have ‘Sunday Sips’. Hitch built a bar on his farm in the midst of his collection of historical memorabilia of this district. In amongst the horse and buggies and the restored shearing shed and in front of the old aga stove providing a bit of heat, we share stories and tell a few jokes.
Because Hitch has covered the bar with bits and pieces from the pub at Archies Creek, Mum (who has dementia) thinks it is our old pub. She thinks Scrub is the owner now – as he is always behind the bar – and she isn’t too sure who Hitch is. But anyway it is the highlight of her week. She insists on taking over food even though no-one eats it because it interferes with their drinking. A couple of them are missing teeth and some have no dentures making the eating difficult as well.
EACH Sunday we have been in the habit of going over to Hitch’s place with Mum to have ‘Sunday Sips’. Hitch built a bar on his farm in the midst of his collection of historical memorabilia of this district. In amongst the horse and buggies and the restored shearing shed and in front of the old aga stove providing a bit of heat, we share stories and tell a few jokes.
Because Hitch has covered the bar with bits and pieces from the pub at Archies Creek, Mum (who has dementia) thinks it is our old pub. She thinks Scrub is the owner now – as he is always behind the bar – and she isn’t too sure who Hitch is. But anyway it is the highlight of her week. She insists on taking over food even though no-one eats it because it interferes with their drinking. A couple of them are missing teeth and some have no dentures making the eating difficult as well.
Hitch has various sorts of fowl on his farm and as a result is given left over bread and fruit from various places. He called me the other day and told me he had been left a few bananas (our banana tree is fruiting for the first time this year and is still a little way off) and would I like them? Never one to say no to a free gift I thanked him but was staggered to find a huge box full of over-ripe bananas on my doorstep.
At the same time Mum had given away eating her favourite yoghurt and so I had pots of it in the fridge. What to do? Make banana cake of course.
The result was magnificent and evil. Scrub got stuck into a few pieces and refused to relinquish even a bite when Marilyn, Hitch’s long suffering wife came to pick up those who weren’t in a position to drive back home. Marilyn asked me to provide the recipe as Hitch doesn’t care for hers any more.
Matt enjoyed his piece but did comment that he thought that perhaps the taste is enhanced after several cans of beer!
Ingredients
½ cup butter
1½ cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
2 cups of self raising flour (I use wholemeal but white is just fine)
1 cup of yoghurt (I used the left over of Mum's Gippsland dairy twist with toffee which made it even sweeter - but any will work)
2 cups of mashed bananas
Method
At the same time Mum had given away eating her favourite yoghurt and so I had pots of it in the fridge. What to do? Make banana cake of course.
The result was magnificent and evil. Scrub got stuck into a few pieces and refused to relinquish even a bite when Marilyn, Hitch’s long suffering wife came to pick up those who weren’t in a position to drive back home. Marilyn asked me to provide the recipe as Hitch doesn’t care for hers any more.
Matt enjoyed his piece but did comment that he thought that perhaps the taste is enhanced after several cans of beer!
Ingredients
½ cup butter
1½ cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
2 cups of self raising flour (I use wholemeal but white is just fine)
1 cup of yoghurt (I used the left over of Mum's Gippsland dairy twist with toffee which made it even sweeter - but any will work)
2 cups of mashed bananas
Method
- Mix the first three ingredients together until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs, then everything else.
- Pop it in the oven for an hour and a quarter at 180 degrees. You can imagine it doesn't rise very much!
- No, it doesn’t need any frosting. It is sweet enough as it is!