I drink black coffee first thing in the morning, then the rest of the day its lots of herbal fruit teas. What I don't drink is traditional tea or what I like to call posh tea like Earl Grey, Lapsang Souchong or Darjeeling. So this Darjeeling cake recipe appearing on my blog is a bit unusual to say the least.
The one reason it is making an appearance here is that we do have some Darjeeling teabags floating about in the kitchen, courtesy of D who now and again likes to slurp a bit of Darjeeling tea. I thought I'd try some of his teabags for this banana cake.
Its not half bad. It's a very sweet cake, the sweetness can easily be reduced by leaving off the icing. As for the Darjeeling, I have to admit I am not a tea connoisseur, so its floral subtlety was completely lost on me, it did however taint the colouring of the cake sponge toa walnut brown. As for the banana - well it certainly is bananarey - umm is that even a word?!
Because natural lighting in the evening is bad, D did say to me not to ice the cake and leave it for the following day to be photographed, but I wasn't listening and was keen to coat it with the golden Darjeeling icing. I know I should have put it in the fridge, but it was pretty cold so I decided to leave it out. And during the night, in the warmth of the kitchen the icing fell away revealing the banana slices that would otherwise be covered. I can pretend and say its kinda of a volcanic effect but I would be fibbing. Still its rather yummy and sweet.
Banana and Darjeeling Cake
Serves 6
Ingredients
6 – 8 Darjeeling tea bags
250ml boiling water
1 large banana
125g soft butter
125g soft brown sugar
2 eggs
200g self raising flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
For the icing
175g icing sugar
1 teaspoon butter
Method
Add the tea bags to the boiling water in a measuring jug, making sure they are all submerged. Allow to stew until cold. Then squeeze the tea bags to get as much liquid from them as possible. Discard the tea bags and measure out ¼ pint of tea, saving the rest. Mash the banana with the butter and brownsugar, then stir the measured tea, the eggs, flour and baking powder and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Line an 8 inch cake tin with non stick baking paper, spoon the mixture in and gently level the surface. Bake in a preheated oven gas mark 4 for 40 –45 minutes, or until a skewer in the centre comes out clean. Cool for a minute or so in the tin, then turnout on to a wire rack and leave until cold.
For the icing
Put the icing sugar into a saucepan with the butter and 2 tablespoons of the remaining tea, discarding the rest. Stir over the heat until the butter has melted. Pour over the top of the cake and leave to set. Adapted very slightly from Rose Elliot's Veggie Chic
Source: http://allotment2kitchen.blogspot.com/2011/11/banana-and-darjeeling-cake.html
The one reason it is making an appearance here is that we do have some Darjeeling teabags floating about in the kitchen, courtesy of D who now and again likes to slurp a bit of Darjeeling tea. I thought I'd try some of his teabags for this banana cake.
Its not half bad. It's a very sweet cake, the sweetness can easily be reduced by leaving off the icing. As for the Darjeeling, I have to admit I am not a tea connoisseur, so its floral subtlety was completely lost on me, it did however taint the colouring of the cake sponge toa walnut brown. As for the banana - well it certainly is bananarey - umm is that even a word?!
Because natural lighting in the evening is bad, D did say to me not to ice the cake and leave it for the following day to be photographed, but I wasn't listening and was keen to coat it with the golden Darjeeling icing. I know I should have put it in the fridge, but it was pretty cold so I decided to leave it out. And during the night, in the warmth of the kitchen the icing fell away revealing the banana slices that would otherwise be covered. I can pretend and say its kinda of a volcanic effect but I would be fibbing. Still its rather yummy and sweet.
Banana and Darjeeling Cake
Serves 6
Ingredients
6 – 8 Darjeeling tea bags
250ml boiling water
1 large banana
125g soft butter
125g soft brown sugar
2 eggs
200g self raising flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
For the icing
175g icing sugar
1 teaspoon butter
Method
Add the tea bags to the boiling water in a measuring jug, making sure they are all submerged. Allow to stew until cold. Then squeeze the tea bags to get as much liquid from them as possible. Discard the tea bags and measure out ¼ pint of tea, saving the rest. Mash the banana with the butter and brownsugar, then stir the measured tea, the eggs, flour and baking powder and beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Line an 8 inch cake tin with non stick baking paper, spoon the mixture in and gently level the surface. Bake in a preheated oven gas mark 4 for 40 –45 minutes, or until a skewer in the centre comes out clean. Cool for a minute or so in the tin, then turnout on to a wire rack and leave until cold.
For the icing
Put the icing sugar into a saucepan with the butter and 2 tablespoons of the remaining tea, discarding the rest. Stir over the heat until the butter has melted. Pour over the top of the cake and leave to set. Adapted very slightly from Rose Elliot's Veggie Chic
Source: http://allotment2kitchen.blogspot.com/2011/11/banana-and-darjeeling-cake.html