Grandma's Banana Cake in the Thermomix

We are having a quiet day at home today so perfect morning for a banana cake! My Grandma's recipe for banana cake is a lovely one that always gives good results so I decided it was a good first cake to try in the thermomix. We weren't disappointed! I'm usually terrible at icing but I'm really happy with the results for the icing in particular. As you can see, the mice (namely one toddler and pregnant mummy) couldn't wait for the cake to cool enough to ice before we tasted!



So here is both the thermomix and normal versions of this cake. I have no idea where this recipe originally came from so no idea if there should be further credit for this cake apart from my Grandma and Mother.

Grandma's Banana Cake in the Thermomix
Ingredients
2 eggs
100grams butter
220g sugar
310g SR Flour
2 bananas (approx 200g)
2T boiling milk
1 scant teaspoon bicarb soda
Method
Pre-heat oven to moderate fan forced (180degC on my oven)
Prepare baking tin
Place bananas in the bowl and mix for 5 seconds on speed 5. Set aside.
Place butter and sugar in bowl and melt 50secs/70degC/speed5.
With blades rotating on speed 3 add eggs one at a time, scrape down sides of bowl.
Add SR flour and mix 10-20 secs speed 3, you might need to scrape down bowl in the middle.
Return bananas to bowl and mix 10 seconds speed 3.
Lastly stir in 1 scant teaspoon bicarb soda into boiling milk (I put the milk in a mug and heat in my very old microwave for 30-40 seconds on high). This should froth. Add to bowl and mix 5 seconds speed 6.
Pour mixture into baking tin (I find it works best in a ring tin) and bake approximately 25mins.
Leave in tin to cool for a while before turning out onto a cooling rack.

If you can wait long enough for it to cool to ice it… I made lemon icing.
15g butter
200g icing sugar
1 lemon
mix speed 5 for 15 seconds
add lemon juice a bit at a time whilst mixing for on speed 5 about 15 seconds, you may need to scrape down and mix again. The lemon I had wasn't particularly juicy so I ended up using most of it.

Grandma's banana cake without a thermomix
Ingredients
2 eggs
100 grams butter
1 cup sugar
1.5 cups SR Flour
2 bananas
3T boiling milk
1 scant teaspoon bicarb soda
Method
Preheat oven to moderate,
Line the tin,
Cream together butter and sugar,
Add beaten eggs,
Stir thoroughly,
Add SR Flour
Mash bananas and add to mixture beating well,
Lastly stir in 1 scant teaspoon bicarb soda into boiling milk,
Bake approx 25mins in moderate oven.
Works well with lemon icing.

Cheating at jam

I love making jam, especially at Christmas for presents. It solves my problem where I want to give a gift but I don't want to buy more junk that no one wants. Everyone loves jam, even if they don't really like to eat it there is so much more you can do with it eg. jam slice and there is nothing better than homemade jam. Since I moved to an area where I can buy berries locally and discovered how easy it is to make jam I just haven't been able to go back to the store bought stuff! 

So this year I've decided to make strawberry and strawberry and cherry jam. I haven't had a good track record with strawberry and cherry jams, never had a problem with marmalade or variations on blackberry or raspberry jams but strawberry and cherry don't have as much natural pectin and I've either made strawberry sauce or burnt cherry jam, neither are particularly nice! Since I've been pushed for time and making jam around a 1 year old is not the easiest task ( although Thomas the tank engine worked beautifully for whilst I was pouring hot jam into jars!) and I was using the tricky fruits, I decided to cheat. I always keep some jamsetta in the cupboard for emergencies but I decided to use it to make the jam. SO much easier! So if you are ready to give jam a go here are my recipes!

Strawberry jam

2kg strawberries (I bought frozen strawberries from my local berry farm)

2 granny smith apples pealed and grated (doesn't change flavour but adds pectin and bulk)

2kg sugar

1 lemon cut in half with seeds removed (more pectin and balances the flavour)

1 packet Fowlers VACOLA Jamsetta

Place clean glass jars in a low to medium oven, they need to be there for atleast 20 minutes to sterilize. You will know your jars are hot enough when you add your jam to it, the jam should boil slightly which also helps the jamming process.

Heat strawberries in very large pot slowly until defrosted. Add grated apple. I stewed them a bit as the strawberries were whole and I wanted them and the apple to break down. Once you add the sugar the fruit wont break down (much). Once the strawberries were a good consistency I squeezed the lemon into the fruit and added the entire lemon to the fruit. After that add the sugar. Heat until sugar dissolves  Then bring jam mixture to a rolling boil for about 10 minutes. Since I had the Jamsetta in the jam I tested it regularly through that 10 minutes so that I didn't burn the jam and to see if it had jammed.

To test to see if the jam mixture has jammed, you are supposed to drop spoonfuls of the jam onto chilled plates or into the fridge and leave for a bit to see if it has jammed. It has jammed if you can run your finger through the jam and it resists flowing back together again. I've found that seeing how the jam runs off the spoon and how it acts on the plate when I take a sample gives me a very good idea of how the jamming process is going. Little risky but less fuss.

After 10 minutes (and I was satisfied that the jam had jammed) I turned the heat off, let the jam settle then brought it back to a rolling ball again, for luck. Once it reached a rolling boil again, turn it off. Remove any scum, seeds and the lemons.

Then place in your hot sterilized jars. 

Strawberry and Cherry Jam

1kg strawberries

1kg cherries (with stones removed)

2 lemons

2kg sugar

1 packet Fowlers VACOLA Jamsetta

Same method as for the strawberry jam.