Old‑Fashioned Banana Cake (Butter Wrapper Method)

Banana Cake with Lemon Frosting

Over‑ripe bananas are never a problem in a home kitchen - they’re the beginning of a delicious smoothie or banana cake. When the fruit bowl starts looking a bit sad, I just pop the whole banana in its peel in the freezer. The skin goes black, but the flesh thaw's perfectly for baking or that smoothie, and it means you can make a banana cake whenever you feel like it rather than waiting for bananas to get over-ripe.

I also keep my butter wrappers in the fridge. They’re ideal for lining cake tins or greasing a baking tray - already greased, already paid for, and one less thing to throw away. It’s a small habit, but it saves money over time and feels like the kind of kitchen thrift our grandmothers would approve of.

Homemade banana cake doesn’t need anything fancy: just the basics, a bowl, and a wooden spoon. The frozen bananas mash beautifully, the butter wrappers line the tin, and the whole thing comes together in minutes. It’s simple, economical baking that freezes well, too

Ingredients:

125 g (4 ozs.) Butter

1 cup sugar 

2 tbsp hot milk

2 Eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 Mashed Bananas

225 g (8 ozs.) Flour

1 teaspoon baking (bicarb) soda

Method:

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs, mashed bananas. Add baking soda dissolved in hot milk then sift in flour with the baking powder. Bake in a lined and greased ring tin for 20-25 minutes at 180°c (fan) but don't overcook - slightly undercooked is best.

Remove cake from tin and cool on a baking rack. Ice with your preferred flavored icing when cool.