Toffee topped banana and brazil nut cake

This cake is massive!  When I spooned the batter into the tin it filled it to the brim and I had a horrible feeling that one of my tasks that afternoon would be scraping cake from the bottom of the oven!  But it didn’t overspill – I think that’s due to the long, slow cooking time.

It’s the only large cake I’ve made that has a muffin top to it!  The cake came up well above the height of the tin.

I don’t make a lot of banana cakes as a large percentage of my family won’t eat them; however, when I saw this beauty selfishness took over and I knew we had to become better acquainted.  I’m not sure if it was the toffee covered nut topping or the fact that it just sounded so great from the ingredient list.  Whatever the reason, we’ve had a very successful first date and are now going steady!

I cut the nuts finer for the cake than I did on the top.  I don’t mind chunky nuts on top of a cake where they can be seen, but when hidden in sponge a large nut can be a nasty surprise for delicate teeth.

This cake keeps for days getting better and better – so no need to panic about how huge it is – and is lovely for breakfast, an accompaniment for your mid-morning or mid-afternoon tea, and, if you cut a large enough slice, will do very nicely as a meal in itself!  This next photo show why it’s worth piercing the cake with a skewer before pouring on the toffee topping – look at how it’s oozed into the cake:

Ingredients

For the cake:

175g unsalted butter, at room temperature
175g light brown sugar
4 eggs
125g brazil nuts – chopped quite small
3 large bananas – peeled and mashed
½ teaspoon mixed spice
350g self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
300ml plain Greek yoghurt
1 tablespoon runny honey

For the topping:

75g unsalted butter
175g light brown sugar
2 tablespoon double cream
75g brazil nuts – roughly chopped

To serve: thick cream

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/ fan oven 160°C/ 350°F/gas mark 4.

Line a 20cm round springform tin with baking paper.

Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in the eggs, gradually.  The mix might start to curdle a little on the fourth egg but that’s fine.

Stir in the brazil nuts and spice.

Mash the bananas and stir into the mix.  I find the most efficient mashing technique is to use my potato ricer.

Stir in the flour and baking powder.

Stir in the yoghurt and honey.

Spoon into the prepared tin and don’t panic – the tin will be full to the brim!

Bake for approximately 1 hour 20 minutes (mine took exactly this time) or until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.

Leave to cool in the tin until you can safely remove the tin.  Then leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

Pierce the cake with a skewer.

Now make the topping: Place the butter, sugar and cream in a pan and gently melt together.

Bring to simmering point and stir well.

Remove from the heat and stir in the chopped nuts.

Pour the mixture over the cake letting it drizzle a little down the sides.

You can if you wish put the whole cake under the grill for 1- minutes to toast the nut topping but I didn’t bother as my grill is erratic and I didn’t want to risk burning the cake.

Serve the cake with thick cream.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.