Blueberry and Banana Cake

I had an hour before the girls got home from school and the snack options were looking pretty non-existent – I seem to have stopped buying a lot of snacks with all the baking I’ve been doing! However, there was one very over-ripe banana  and a handful of rather forlorn blueberries sitting in the fruit bowl – hence the inspiration for this recipe.

I didn’t think that the flavours would shine with so few ingredients, but it produced one very banana-y and blueberry tasting cake that filled empty, just home from school tummies, but would also work perfectly with a cup of tea or coffee.

Blueberry and banana cake (dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, soya-free, sesame-free, vegetarian and vegan)

makes one cake/small loaf

• 1 cup self-raising flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 ripe banana
• 1 handful blueberries (doesn’t matter if they’re old and wrinkly!)
• 1/4 cup sunflower oil
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tbsps sugar for sprinkling

– Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Centigrade/Gas mark 4

– Grease and line the cake/loaf tin

– Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder. Stir in the blueberries so they get coated in flour.

– In a separate bowl, mash the banana. Add the oil, vanilla and water. Stir well.

– Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix gently.

– Pour into the cake tin.

– Sprinkle with more sugar and bake for 40-50 minutes, until a knife comes out clean.

– Cool, then remove from the tin and leave to finish cooling on a wire rack.