Blackberry and Banana Loaf Cake

I think it’s going to be a bumper blackberry year – the bushes are already bowing down with the little back gems. I managed a fine harvest from just over the garden wall – goodness knows how many I could have got if I’d gone further afield! So you should be warned – blackberry recipes are a coming!

This is maybe an unusual combination, you would normally expect apple with blackberry, rather than banana, but it works really well. The blackberries add a delicate blackberry fragrance along with their pretty jewel pops of colour and the mellow sweetness of banana combines to form a winning combination. This loaf cake is the perfect start to autumn, a nod of the produce to come, whilst still being sunny and summery with its banana flavours.

Blackberry and Banana Loaf Cake

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

1 cup self-raising flour

1/2 cup caster sugar

Pinch of salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla

1 large banana, mashed or processed to a purée

2 large handfuls of blackberries

1/4 cup sunflower oil

1/2 cup water

1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp sugar, for sprinkling on top

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees/Gas mark 4. Line a loaf tin.
2. Mix together the mashed or puréed banana, oil, water, vanilla and lemon and set aside
3. Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and sugar. Stir in the blackberries and make sure they are coated in the flour – this should prevent them from dropping to the bottom of the cake
4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and gently mix until well combined
5. Pour into the lined loaf tin. Sprinkle with the remaining sugar and bake for 40-50 minutes until a knife comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.