Banana And Honey Teabread

I never wanted to get married, not desperately anyhow and definitely not to have kids. I love the way I am, not just child free, but single and unattached. I’ve never been able to figure out why people want to get married, and then to top it off, have kids! I think we’re doing an injustice to kids by bringing them into this terrible planet that we’ve made of the Earth. It’s most unfair to bring children into such suffering.

For those who think kids carry forth the family name and legacy. Do they really? They’re their own individuals who eventually go out and do their own thing, or at least should do so. So haven’t felt the need for that either.

If we must bring kids into this world let it be one worthy of them. We’ve messed up the world and we’re still unthinkingly enthusiastic about procreating.

Frankly, I’d rather bake. I love the idea of creating a batter and then putting it in the oven, then waiting for the batter to cook and rise into a beautiful cake with an even more beautiful aroma that fills the home. That’s homeliness for me, that’s togetherness and family. I don’t need children to complete my home, baking is just fine. At least I don’t bring children into a world full of plastic, pollution, water and resource scarcity, landfills……

So here is my recipe today. It is a recipe of a banana and honey teabread by Mary Berry. I love baking cakes and breads with bananas, and seek out different combinations of bananas and other things, so I was thrilled when I came across this one of bananas and honey! I improvised and decorated the cake with sugar and banana slices and then baked it. You can do that too, or just leave the cake without adding the banana slices on top.

Here is the recipe.

Banana And Honey Teabread

225 gms (8oz) self raising flour

1/4 level teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

100 gms (4oz) butter

225 gms (8 oz) bananas

100 gms (4oz) caster sugar

Grated rind of 1 lemon

2 large eggs

6 tablespoons thick pale honey

For the topping

A little sugar

Banana slices

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees C/Fan 140 degrees C/Gas 3. Grease a 900 gm (2lb) loaf tin and line the tin with baking parchment.

2. Measure the flour and nutmeg into a large bowl and rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.

3. Peel and mash the bananas and stir into the flour mixture, along with the sugar, lemon rind, eggs and honey. Beat well, until evenly mixed, then turn into the prepared tin and level the surface.

Decorate the banana slices all over the cake and sprinkle sugar on top of the slices.

4. Bake in the preheated oven for about 1 1/4 hours or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cover the Teabread loosely with foil during the end of the cooking time, if it is browning too much. Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes, then turn out, peel of parchment and let cool on a wire rack.