By Frances
Long time no bake! Today I decided to peruse my collection of cookbooks to find a banana cake I hadn't tried before. Ravinder Bhogal's Cook in Boots had this decadent banana loaf - with lashings of chocolate chips and walnuts. I used chocolate drops, which could have been chopped, and I could have used less, as the batter overflowed in the tin. It was the perfect treat to take to visit a friend.
I'm entering this in February's Sweet New Zealand, hosted by Alessandra Zecchini. Enter this month and you could win some Fresh As products! And next month, March, I will be hosting the blog event.


250g flour (I used wholemeal spelt)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
pinch salt
150g dark chocolate chips
100g chopped walnuts
50g butter
200g sugar (I used finely ground organic golden sugar)
2 large eggs
3 medium bananas, mashed (could have got away with 2)
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180C. Line a large loaf tin with baking paper.
Mix the flour, baking powder, bicarb and salt in a bowl. In another bowl mix the chocolate chips and walnuts and coat well with 1 Tbs of the flour mixture.
In a mixing bowl or food processor, cream the butter then add the sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time, then add bananas and vanilla. You should now have a lovely, loose yellow batter. Finally fold in flour mixture and beaut until you have a thick cake batter.
Pour 1/3 of the batter in the tin, top with half the choc/walnuts, then another 1/3 of the batter. Layer again with remaining choc/walnuts and cover with rest of batter. Run a knife through the depth of the batter in a zigzag patter to disperse the chocolate and nuts.
Bake in the oven for 1 hour. I put some foil on top of the cake about halfway through. Test with a skewer, if not cooked through bake for a further 15 mins. Let completely cool before turning out.