Banana cake is a Kiwi family favourite and this one with its no-creaming method is fast to make a taste great.

Ingredients

• 150 grams butter, melted
• ¾ cup sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ cup milk
• 3 medium-sized bananas, mashed
• Passionfruit icing
• 100 grams butter, at room temperature
• 1½ cups icing sugar
• few drops vanilla essence
• 1-2 tablespoons milk (approximately)
• 1 ripe passionfruit

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Grease and line a 20cm square cake tin with baking paper.
2. In a jug or small bowl, stir together the butter, sugar, beaten eggs and vanilla essence.
3. Sift the flour, baking powder and baking soda together into a large bowl and make a well in the centre.
4. Pour in the melted butter mixture and stir carefully with a wooden spoon, incorporating the milk and banana at the same time.
5. Turn the mixture into the prepared cake tin.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or until a cake skewer inserted comes out clean.
7. Allow to stand in the tin for 10 minutes before turning out onto a cake rack to cool.
8. Ice with passionfruit icing before serving in chunky slices.
9. Passionfruit icing
10. Beat the butter until it is pale and fluffy. Sift the icing sugar and beat into the creamed butter with the vanilla essence and sufficient milk until you have a fluffy light mixture. Add the pulp of the passionfruit and mix until well combined.

Cooks Tips

Old bananas that are past their "eat by date" can be frozen in their skins. Leave for a couple of hours to defrost, peel and use the fruit in cakes as above. The skins will turn flack, but the pulp remains perfectly okay for baking with.