nigel slater's banana chocolate muscovado cake |
my cough is notorious. when i was a little girl my paediatrician named
it ‘kutay walli khansi’ (literally a dogs cough). this is an apt description
because i am dogged by it for several weeks. now as a grownup i have to retreat
to the doghouse that is the sofa bed so that o can sleep. my family and i have
tried endless remedies. as a child my baba would rub powdered rock salt at the
base of my throat. a family friend insisted on making me chew a large thimble
sized piece of raw ginger. a teaspoon of honey showered with coarse black
pepper at bedtime is a vain hope to keep me from coughing. but nothing, natural
or allopathic has effect on my cough. it will run its course as it pleases.
so when a cold arrives i often fear that it will graduate into this
infamous cough. i have to keep myself busy to quell the fear by doing things
around the house. this time it was nigel’s chocolate muscovado banana cake that
kept me occupied. it’s a pleasure to bake it. when done it assumes the
form of a soft loaf with little bursts of chocolate. i’ve made it twice – once
with slivers of chocolate and another with small dots of callets. the one in
london was made with muscovado and the one in islamabad with local brown sugar.
black banana’s are essential to this cake. their over developed
flavour strikes a pose against the brown sugars and dark chocolate. this is a cake that will make you want to let your bananas sit and fester till their skins
blacken and you can smell their (almost sickly) sweetness. then pull out your
scales, mixing bowl and ingredients and whip up the batter.
i know that cake is an unconventional cure for colds. i usually prefer soups
of a clear constitution laced with a burst of sriracha and fresh chillies. but
once in a while i want a loaf cake that i can have with tea. nigel’s chocolate
muscovado banana cake is the perfect ticket. i had a thick slice from the still
warm cake along with a cup of steaming hot cardamom infused tea. it definitely made
me feel better.
just out of the oven |
{nigel’s chocolate muscovado banana cake}
from the kitchen diaries ii
two hundred and fifty
grams flour
two teaspoons baking
powder
one hundred and
twenty-five grams butter, softened
two hundred and
thirty-five grams muscovado sugar
four hundred grams
ripe bananas, peeled weight
one teaspoon vanilla
extract
two eggs
one hundred grams dark chocolate, i used
callebaut callets
pre-heat the oven to one hundred and eight
degrees celsius. line a loaf tin with long strip of baking parchment that
overhangs on the short ends. set
aside.
sifting the flour and baking powder together.
put aside in a bowl.
mash the bananas with a fork. allow the bananas
to keep a chunky texture rather than making a smooth puree. add the vanilla and
give it a gentle stir. beat the eggs with a fork and gradually add to the
creamed butter and sugar.
now fold the chocolate and banana mixture into
the batter. try not to over mix so as to keep the texture of the bananas.
gently fold in the sifted flour and baking powder till you get a smooth batter.
scrape the batter into a loaf tin. bake for
around fifty minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out moist
yet clean. if the batter is still quite wet continue to bake until done.
No comments:
Post a Comment